NTRODUCTION 



DOGMATIC THEOLOG 



WEIDNER 



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A 

SYSTEM 



OF 



DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 



BASED ON LUTHARDT AND KRAUTH. 



BY 



REVERE FRANKLIN WEIDNER. D. D., LL. D 



i *-" -") *-"— *^>i 



Professor of Dogmatics in the Theological Seminary of the Eoangelical Lutheran 
Church at Chicago. 



I. PROLEGOMENA. 



ROCK ISLAND, ILL. 

LUTHERAN AUGUSTANA BOOK CONCER] 

1895. 



AN 

INTRODUCTION 



TO 



DOGMATIC THEOLOGY, 

BASED ON LUTHARDT. 




BY 



REVERE FRANKLIN WEIDNER, D. p., LL D., 
i i 

Professor of Theology in the Chicago Lutheran Theological Seminary; Author of 

"Biblical Theology of the Old Testament" and of the "New Testament"; 

"Christian Ethics" ; "Theological Encyclopaedia''' ; 

Studies in the Booh"; etc. /L/ / / > ^{ClV 



ROCK ISLAND, ILL. 

LUTHERAN AUGUSTANA BOOK CONCEKN. 
1895. 



v 






Copyright, 1888, by Revebe Fbankxin Wkidnbb. 



Copyright, 1895, by Revebe Fbanbxtn Weednkb. 



DEDICATED 
TO THE MEMORY OP 

CHARLES PORTERFIELD KRAUTH, 

fflS TEACHER AND FRIEND, 

BY 

THE AUTHOR. 



PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



Revealed Theology naturally divides itself into four 
main departments, exegetical, historical, systematic, 
and practical. Under Exegetical Theology we com- 
prise all the sciences that relate to the exposition and 
elucidation of the Holy Scriptures; Historical Theol- 
ogy begins with Sacred History and includes what has 
been developed in the Church in the shape of Church 
History and the History of Doctrine; Practical Theol- 
ogy embraces the theory of the activities of the Church, 
as exercised by the pastor and teacher in particular; 
but iu Systematic Theology we have the highest form 
of theological science. It is the scientific and connected 
presentation of Christian doctrine in its relation to 
both faith and morals, and comprises the sciences of 
Apologetics, Dogmatics, and Ethics. 

Oar later theologians distinguish between Biblical 
Theology and Dogmatics. Biblical Theology has for 
its aim to represent the religious ideas and doctrines 
which are contained in the Bible, and is a purely his- 
torical discipline, and as such belongs to the depart- 
ment of Historical Theology. Christian Dogmatics or 
Dogmatic Theology, on the other hand, is a historico- 
philosophical science, in which the result of historical 
exegesis are unified and systematized. It uses the re- 
sults of Biblical Theology as the material with which 



8 
it builds. It is the sura of the truths embraced in the 
Christian faith in their organic connection with the 
facts of religious truth. It is the science of that, of 
which the Christian affections and the Christian life 
are the great art. It has no other aim than the teach- 
ing of the Christian religion, as this is established in the 
experimental consciousness of the believer, to produce 
it spiritually and to bring it into a scientific, system- 
atic form, for the delineation and development in every 
direction of its divinely wrought fact in Jesus Christ. 

Of late, Dogmatic Theology has been somewhat neg- 
lected in certain parts of the Protestant world, and 
indeed has fallen into disrepute, more stress being laid 
upon the results of Biblical Theology. We are told 
that in Dogmatic Theology we have the deductions 
and speculations of men while in Biblical Theology we 
have the pure teaching of the Word of God. But let us 
not forget that the man who takes up the Bible now 
without reference to what has been done toward its 
elucidation in the past, and without being guided by 
the development of doctrine is unwise and will fall into 
error, for the faith and doctrinal thinking of the present 
is conditioned by the intellectual labors and the devel- 
opment of Church doctrine in the past, and must con- 
sequently assure itself of its essential harmony with it. 
This work does not present a System of Christian 
Theology, but is 6imply an Introduction to such a Sys- 
tem. It is the door and the vestibule which leads to 
the sacred edifice. It only treats of the definition, con- 
tents, method, and history, of Dogmatics. The attempt 



9 

has been made to give a concise and yet complete his- 
tory of Dogmatics, including even a brief sketch of the 
most prominent recent writers in this department. The 
book itself is the outgrowth of work in the class-room, 
and has been prepared to meet the wants of my stu- 
dents, and is published in the hope that it may be of 
some service not only to other theological students, 
and to the English-speaking ministers, of the Evangel- 
ical Lutheran Church, but may be of interest even to 
those who are not of the same Confession of Faith. 

He who watches the horizon of German Lutheran 
Theology, will always discover some new star of great 
brilliancy, just coming into range above it. One of the 
latest of distinguished iivingconservative theologians is 
Christoph Ernst Luthardt, since 1856 professor of theology 
atLeipsic, and renowned as a university lecturer and pul- 
pit orator. His Compendium derDogmatik appeared in 1865, 
and in 1886 had already reached the seventh edition. 
This work is not strictly speaking the development 
of a system, but rather a compendious presentation of 
carefully selected material. It is by far the best manual 
of the Dogmatics of the Evangelical Lutheran Church 
we possess. On account of its comprehensiveness, brev- 
ity, and succintness, my own teacher, Charles Porterfield 
Krauth, fate Professor of Dogmatic Theology in the Evangel- 
ical Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia took it as 
a general guide in a large part of his own lectures, and 
especially recommended it to his students. This work 
has been the basis of my own lectures during the last 
six years, my students using a Swedish translation of 



10 
the fifth German edition. In this Introduction we closely 
follow the outline of Luthardt, but though we follow 
his outline and plan, it is not a translation, nor a con- 
densation, nor simply an adaptation, but we have 
made an attempt to rewrite the work for the special 
wants of the Church in this country. 

The writer would also record his great indebtedness 
to the Manuscript Lectures of Dr. Krauth, which have 
been freely used, and from which we have derived con- 
stant stimulus and suggestion. He would also express 
his great obligations to his venerable colleague, Dr. 
Hasselquist, whose rich scholarship w r as constantly at 
his command, and, w T ho with a kindness which the 
writer cannot adequately acknowledge, has done him 
the great favor of reading the whole book aloud in his 
presence, during its passage through the press. 

R. F. W. 

AUOU8TANA THEOLOGICAL, BEMINAHY. 

Easter Monday, April 2, 1888, 
Eock Island, 111. 



PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 



The demand for a new edition of this Introduction 
to Dogmatics has given me the opportunity carefully to 
revise the whole, and even to rewrite parts of it. My 
aim has been to adapt the presentation to the wants of 
our Church in this country, and to aid our younger 
clergy and our theological students in obtaining a 
clearer view of the vast field occupied by the Science 
of Dogmatics. Special attention has been given to the 
literature of the subject, and the attempt has been 
made to bring it up to date. 

It is gratifying that in this sge of indifference ta 
Creeds and to the positive teachings of the Church, 
there is still a demand for such works as this, and I 
hope many may be led to explore more fully the rich 
treasures of that Science to which this email hand- 
book is but the door and vestibule. 

R. F. W. 

LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, 

Epiphany, 1895. 
Chicago. 



CONTENTS. 



Sec. Page. 

1. The Object of the Introduction, ... 17 

I. The Definition of Dogmatics. 

2. The Definition of Theology, 18 

1. Usage of the ivord Theology, 18 

2. Divisions of Theology, 19 

3. Definition of Revealed Theology, 20 

4. Means of Theological Study, 20 

5. Aim of Theology, 22 

3. The Claims of Theology, . . -. . .23 

1. It is a Biblical Science, 23 

2. Its scientific necessity, 24 

3. Its possibility, 26 

4. In harmony ivith a genuine Philosophy, ... 27 

5. Limitations of Theology, 29 

4. The Organism of Theology 30 

1. The Departments of Theology, 30 

2. The Relation of Dogmatics and Ethics, . . . 31 

5. The Name and Definition of Dogmatics, . 32 

1. The Name of this Science, 32 

2. Definition of Dogma, 33 

3. Definition of Dogmatics, 34 

4. Relation to other Branches of Theology, ... 37 

II. The Contents of Dogmatics. 

6. The Name and Definition of Religion, . . 38 

1. The universal fact of Religion, 38 

2. The Word Religion, 38 

3. Definition of Religion, 39 

7. The Origin and Essential Character of Religion, 40 

1. The Origin of Religion, 40 

2. The Essential Character of Religion, . . . .41 

8. The Actuality and Truth of Religion, . . 42 

1. Religion in its subjective sense, 42 

2. Religion in its objective sense, 45 

3. True and False Religion, 45 

4. Natural and Positive Religion, 50 



55 
55 
56 
57 
59 
66 
66 







14 
Sec. Pa se- 

9. Essential Character and Truth of Christianity, 52 

1. The Relation of Christianity to Heathenism and Judaism, 52 

2. The Essential Character of Christianity, ... 53 

3. The Historical Conception of Christianity, . . .54 

4. Christianity is the true Religion, .... 54 

10. The Antithesis of Romanism and Protestant 

ism, 55 

1. False explanations of the difference, 

2. A general statement of the difference, 

3. Tlte Essential Character of Romanism, 

4. Romanism criticised, 

5. Tlte Essential Character of Protestantism, . 

11. Lutheran Protestantism, .... 

1. Lutheran and Reformed Protestantism contrasted, 

2. The Material and Formal Principle, 

3. The Material Principle of Lutheranism, 

4. The Formal Principle of Lutheranism, ... 72 

5. The Historical Character of Lutheran Protestantism, 74 

6. The Internal Assurance of Salvation, . 77 

III. The Method of Dogmatics. 

12. The Formation of a Dogmatic System, . 80 

1. The Material Principle of Dogmatics, ... 80 

2. The Scriptures as the Normative factor of Dogmatics, 81 

3. The Canon of Scripture, 83 

4. The Interpretation of Scripture, .... 90 

13. The Church Doctrine and the Subjective Con- 

sciousness of Faith, 95 

1. The Churchly Character of Dogmatics, . . .95 

2. The Confessions of the Church, .... 96 

3. History of the Lutheran Confessions, .... 108 

4. The Church Doctrine as consisting of Articles of Faith, 125 

5. The Fundamental Principles of Faith of the General 
Council of the Evang. Luth. Church of North America, 131 

6. The Consciouness of Faith, 135 

14. The Disposition of Dogmatics, . . . 135 

IV. The History of Dogmatics. 

15. The Dogmatics of the Ancient Church, . . 143 

1. The Apostolic Fathers, 144 

2. The Oriental Church, ...... 144 

\\. The Western Church, 154 



15 

Sec. Page. 

16. The Dogmatics of the Middle Ages, 1(55 

1. The Essential Character of Scholasticism, . . . 165 

2. The Beginnings of Scholasticism, .... 167 

3. The Period of the highest bloom of Scholasticism, . 173 

4. The Period of its Decline, . . . .■ 178 

5. Mysticism and Pre- Reformatory Theology, . . 180 

6. The Humanists, 183 

17. The Dogmatics of the Century of the Reforma- 

tion, 184 

1. The Dogmatics of Melanchthon, 184 

2. The Melanchthonian School of Dogmatics, . . 187 

3. The Reformed Dogmatics, 190 

18. The Orthodox Dogmatics of Seventeenth Cen- 

tury, 194 

1. Characteristic of this Dogmatics, .... 194 

2. The divers Tendencies of this Period, ... 197 

3. The Dogmaticians of this Period, .... 199 

4. The Reformed or Calvinistic Dogmatics of this Period, 207 

19. The Dogmatics of the Peri od of Transition, 219 

1. The Dogmatics of Pietism, 219 

2. The Biblical Tendency, 223 

3. The Historical Tendency, 225 

4. The Philosophical Tendency, .... 223 

5. The History of Dogmatics outside of Germany, . 230 

20. The Dogmatics of Rationalism and Saprana- 

turalism, 231 

1. The Illumination, falsely so-called, .... 231 

2. Kant, 235 

3. Vulgar Rationalism, 236 

4. Supranaturalism, ....... 238 

21. The Dogmatics of the Most Recent Time 241 

1. The Renewal of Religious Faith, .... 241 

2. The Philosophy of this Period, .... 242 

3. The Emotional Theology of this Period, . . . 245 

4. The Dogmatics of the Mediating Theology, . . 248 

5. Confessional Dogmatics, 253 

Index 279 



AN 

INTRODUCTION 

TO 

DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 



§ 1 . The Object of the Introduction. 

In the Introduction or Prolegomena to a 
System of Christian Theology we treat of the 
Definition, the Contents, the Method, and the 
History of Dogmatics. 

Selnecker (d. 1592), who wrote a commentary on 
the •'•Loci''' of Melanchthon (d. 1560), was thefirstto in- 
troduce the practice of prefacing works in Dogmatics 
with Prolegomena. 1 In Quenstedt 2 (d. 1688) there are 
five introductory chapters 3 , and his plan is adopted by 
Schmid in his ••Doctrinal Theology of the Evangelical 
Lutheran Church verified from the original sources", 4 a 
work which is of invaluable aid to the English student 
who wishes to become acquainted with the Theology of 
the Lutheran Church. 

i In his Institutiones Christians Religionis. 1563. 

2 His Theologia didactico-polemica appeared in 1GS5. 

3 1) Of Theology in general : 2) Of Religion: 3) Of the Source of 
Theology; 4) Of the Holy Scriptures; 5) Of the Articles Of Faith. 

4 Translated by Hay and Jacobs. Second edition, revised accord- 
ing to the sixth German edition. Phil'a 3 1889. 



[Q [NTRODUCTIOK TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

The material of Introduction continued to enlarge. 
Our later Dogmaticians give special prominence to the 
apologetic questions concerning Eeligion and Revelation, 
Miracles and Prophecy, Holy Scripture and Canon, In- 
spiration and Exposition, Faith and Knowledge. 1 

I. DEFINITION OF DOGMATICS. 

§ 2. Definition of Theology 
Theology may be defined as the churchly 
science of Christianity, 8 or the scientific self-con- 
sciousness of the Church. 3 

/ . The usage of the word. 

According to its derivation, Theology is thediscourse 
about God and divine things. The word lias been used 
in the church in various senses: 

1) In the narrowest sense, as designating the doc- 
trine of the Deity of Christ, or of the doctrine of the 

Trinity. 4 

i of our Lutheran Dogmaticians, Philippi (cl. 1882) devotes his 
fi ,..i volume of 346 pages to the discussion oi the topics of Religion 
and Revelation, Faith and Doctrine, Holy Scriptures and the Canon, 
Inspiration and Exposition; Luthardt, whose system we closely follow, 
rives 21 out of 79 sections to Ins Prolegomena and History of Dogm- 
atics: Martensen (d. 1**4) in 36 sections, covering 70 pages, discusses 
the general topics of Religion and Revelation. Christianity and the 
Christian Church, Catholicism and Protestantism, Theology and 
HoW Scripture, Church Confessions and the Christian Idea of Truth. 
Vilmar (d. 1*0*) devotes more than one sixth of his whole work to 

S The°Reform©d Systems oi Theology, best known in tins country, 
contaiD m ore or less elaborate Introductions, as the works ; of I Hodge 
(d 1878), Smith £d. 1877), Shedd, (all three Presbyterians), Van Ooster- 
zee(d. 1882, Dutch Reformed), Gerhart (German Reformed), Strong 
(Baptist), etc. 
8 Luthardt. 

' [n^htesense the designation of the " theologian" was given to 
the Lpostle John, because lie treats so fully of the Godhead of the 
Logos and in Gregory Sazianzen (d. 389), because of his defence of 
the Deity of the Logos against theArians. In this sense the word is 
no longer used. 



DEFINITION OF THEOLOGY. 1'.) 

2) In a less narrow sense, as designating- the doc- 
trine concerning God, in distinction from the other parts 
of Dogmatic Theology. 1 

3) In a wide sense, as designating Dogmatic Theol- 
ogy, in distinction from Apologetics and Ethics, the 
other parts of Systematic Theology. 

4) In a wider sense, as designating the whole science 
of the Christian religion, including the whole range of 
revealed truth. 2 

5) In the widest sense, as referring to the science of 
God and of the relations between God and the universe, 
including both natural and revealed Theolo&-v. 



'&, 



2. Divisions of Theology. 

Theology may be considered 1) as theologia archetypa 
or ectypa, and 2) theologia natural is or rev el at a. 2. 

By archetypal Theology our older Dogmaticians 
mean that perfect knowledge which God has of himself 
and in himself (Matt, 11: 27; 1 Cor. 2: 10), and by ec- 
typal theology that knowledge of God revealed to man 
through the Word and taught by the Holy Ghost. It is 
ectypal (derived), after the model of the archetypal 
Theology. Natural theology comprehends that know- 
ledge of God which can be known apart from revelation, 
either through innate ideas, or from the contemplation 
of nature ; revealed theology is that knowledge of God 
and divine things which God has made known in the 
Scriptures and through them delivered to man. 

i Many modern Dogmaticians (Hase, Hodge, Shedd, Vilniar) use 
the word in this narrow sense. 

2 Since the twelfth century, when Abelard (1079—1142) named his 
manual of doctrine Theologia Christiana. In this sense it embraces 
exegetical, historical, systematic, and practical theology. This is the 
common usage oi the word. 

3 Other distinctions may simply be referred to ; as those given by 
the Greek philosophers: Theoloiia mythica. physica, civilis or moralis : 
as those based upon the mode of communication, theologia acroamatica 
or esoterica, popularis or exoterica, catechetica, practica; as false or true. 



20 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

3. Definition of Revealed Theology. 

Hollaz defines Theology in a twofold way: 1) In a 
strict sense, "Theology is that exalted practical science, 
revealed through God's Word, which teaches all things 
which sinful man, capable of eternal salvation, must 
know and do, in order to acquire true faith in Christ and 
attain holiness of life"; 2) viewed as a system, and in a 
secondary sense, "Theology is that doctrine or teaching- 
drawn from the Word of God, by which men are in- 
structed in the true faith and in a pious life unto eternal 
salvation." 

Since the eighteenth century the word Theology, used 
without any qualifying epithet, denotes that knowledge 
of God and of our duty to him which we derive from the 
supernatural revelation of God. Among the more recent 
churchly theologians, three diverse definitions have 
gained currency : 1) Theology is the science of religion ;* 
2) Theology is the churchly science of Christianity ; 3) 
Theology is thescientific self-consciousness of the Church. 

The true theologian must of necessity be a regener- 
ate man, firmly believing the divine Word, adhering to 
it with unshaken confidence, apt in teaching others, and 
skilful in confuting opponents. Men who have never 
really submitted their hearts to the influence and author- 
ity of the Bible as a divine revelation, and who have 
never really seen God as he has made himself known in 
his Word, cannot with propriety be said to know Christ- 
ian Theology, and are not properly entitled to the name 
of theologians (1 Cor. 2: 14). 

4. The Means of Theological Study. 

Luther was accustomed to say that there were three 

things thai were necessary to make a theologian: 1) 

i A definition fchat cannot be accepted, because the science of 
Theology deals with objective facts entirely independent of the subjec- 
tive mental processes of the theologian. 



DEFINITION OF THEOLOGY. 21 

Prayer, 2) meditation, and 3) experience. "Prayer be- 
gins the study of Theology, meditation continues it, and 
experience confirms it." 1 

Luther places prayer first, because it is the imperative 
duty of all who desire to become acquainted with Theol- 
ogy, and qualified for the office of a minister of the 
Gospel, to abound in prayer and supplication. Our 
prayers become tests of our character, our motives, and 
our longings. If we have not those spiritual influences 
which are necessary to guide into all truth, and to pre- 
pare us for the work of the ministry, it is because we ask 
not, or ask amiss (James 4: 3; 1: 5). 

Under the head of meditation Luther includes espe- 
cially reading, learning, and reflecting upon the Word 
of God. It is only by your own reading and study, 
accompanied by the teaching of the divine Spirit, that 
you can become theologians. You must read, commit, 
and reflect upon, the Word of God. But Luther under 
this head comprehends also reading and meditation in 
general. Two errors are to be avoided: 1) Indiscrim- 
inate reading of whatever theological books may come 
in your way, and 2) mere reading, without meditation 
and reflection. Whether you are reading books, or 
listening to instructions or lectures, you must not neg- 
lect meditation, letting your mind dwell upon what you 
read and hear, until you can understand and comprehend 
it fully, — until you have so fully digested it, that it be- 
comes a part of your own intellectual stores. 

The third thing, according to Luther's enumeration, 
which aids in making a theologian, is temptation or 
experience, or the practical application of divine truth 
in mortifying and subduing sin in our own hearts. You 
can have no thorough and intimate acquaintance with 

1 Oratio studium theologies mehoat,meditatiocontmuat,tentatio 
consolidate 



22 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

divine truth, nor be able rightly to divide it, or apply it 
wisely and judiciously for the benefit of others, without 
this experience. 

As Christian theology is the science of divine things, 
it cannot be mastered without profound study. Whether 
;i man has really mastered his profession or not will 
soon be found out. They who belittle theology, perhaps 
because they have never studied it and thus do not 
know its rich contents, are simply dishonoring their 
profession. 

There are therefore certain requisites to the successful 
study of theology. Among others we may mention: 
1) natural endowments: 2) a disciplined mind; 3) a 
well-balanced mind: 4) thorough preparatory training; 

5) a knowledge of the original languages of the Bible; 

6) an acquaintance with mental and moral science; 7) 
an inward vocation; 8) a holy affection toward God ;9) 
spiritual mindedness; 10) professional zeal: 11) the 
enlightening influence of the Holy Spirit; 12) a diligent 
use of the means of theological study. 

5. The Aim of Theology. 

The final aim of theology does not lie in the science 
itself, still less in its students alone, but entirely and 
completely in the up-building of the kingdom of God in 
and around them, and in the glorification of God. 

Hollaz speaks of a twofold aim, partly objective, the 
infinitely perfect and supremely beneficent God, and 
partly formal, the beatific A'ision and fruition of God. 
WTien in another place he speaks of the immediate and 
ultimate aim of theology, he identifies the aim of the 
preaching of the Gospel with the aim of theology as a 
science: u The immediate aim of theology is true faith 
in Christ and this faith operates in a two-fold w T ay : 1) 
internally, embracing fhrist with his benefits, and 2) 
externally, producing good works. The ultimate aim of 




THE CLAIMS OF THEOLOGY. 28 

theology is eternal happiness, which consists not only 
in intuitive knowledge of God, but also in the enjoyment 
of him." 

§ 3. The Claims of Theology. 

Although the Bible is not a system of theol- 
ogy, still God reveals to us in his Word the 
truths which, if properly understood and ar- 
ranged, constitute the Science of Theology. Such 
n science is necessary to satisfy the intellect, to 
direct the affections, and to develop the practical 
life of the minister and of the Church. It is possible 
because God has revealed himself to man, and 
the relation of faith to knowledge, and of Theol- 
ogy to Philosophy is such, as not to preclude the 
possibility of a theological science. 

Theology claims our regard and prayerful study : 
/. Because it is a Biblical Science. 

It has its origin in the Word of God, and is distinctly 
recognized in the artless yet specific language of Scrip- 
ture. It calls our attention to the value of skill over 
against unskilfulness, of learning over against ignor- 
ance, of system over against confusion, of the mastery 
of knowledge over against the feebleness of a novice. 
And all these are the marks of a genuine theology. 
There is a scribe thoroughly furnished for the kingdom 
(Matt. 13: 52), inplying that there are scribes not 
thoroughly furnished. Paul was, relatively, what would 
now be called a, great dogmatician ; Apollos would be 
styled a biblical theologian; Luke would be considered 
a master in historical theology. The persons here men- 
tioned were teachers scientifically trained. Throughout 
the whole body of the Apostles we see the predominance 



'_>l INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

of either the theoretical or practical tendency. ' 'Although 
revelation does not present to us a dogmatic system 
ready-made, a dogmatic system is not only implicitly 
contained therein, but parts of the system are wrought 
out in the epistles of the New Testament, e. g. in Rom. 
5: 12—19; 1 Cor. 15: ■], 4; 8: 6: 1 Tim. 3: 1G; Heb. 6: 
1. 2." 1 

The pastors, as shepherds, must also be teachers, 
(Kpli. 4: 11): the bishop must be apt to teach (1 Tim. 3: 2: 
2 Tim. 2: 24). The teacher must he a "workman that 
needeth not to be ashamed, handling aright the word of truth'* 
(2 Tim. 2: 15), "holding to the faithful word which is accord- 
ing to the teaching, that he may be able both to exhort in the 
sound doctrine, and to convict the gainsayers" (Tit. 1:9). He 
must be, in modern phraseology, strong in Dogmatics- 
and Polemics. 

2. Because of its scientific necessity. 

The science which traces the doctrinal claims of 
Christianity, in their relation, their mutual dependency, 
and their harmonious organization, is necessary: 

1) To satisfy the intellect. To edify is to build ; build- 
ing requires order, harmony, and proportion. The more 
perfect a religion is the more does it tend to a scientific 
system. The science of theology meets the deepest want 
of man's rational nature. It is the grand system of the 
whole divine world, the Cosmos of the moral universe of 
God, and without it, revelation would but imperfectly 
fulfil its ends. If all existing theological systems were 
destroyed to-day. new systems would arise to-morrow. 

2) To give the wisest direction to the affections. Truth 
Systematically presented promotes the development of 
Christ inn character, a) It enlightens the understanding 
with sound knowledge, so that men have clear views of 
truth; b) it awakens emotion through that truth and 

I Strong, Systematic Theology, p. <>. ed. 1886. 



THE CLAIMS OF THEOLOGY. 2~> 

by truth strengthens and purifies emotion ; c) it directs 
the will and conscience, by the power of that emotion, 
to activity in making man holy, and in impelling him to 
do good to others. That piety which can be injured by 
the systematic presentation of the great doctrines of 
Christianity must be weak, mystical, spurious, or mis- 
taken (Heb. 5: 12-14). 

3) To develop perfectly the practical life of the minister, 
and his usefulness as a teacher of religion. The minister must 
have all the knowledge which adapts him to the wants 
of the Church. He must know her history and practical 
needs, the need of the altar, the need of the pulpit, the 
need of the pastor, and of the people. All this can only 
be obtained by the diligent study of the science of theol- 
ogy. Nothing more certainly destroys a minister's in- 
fluence for good than confusion and inconsistency in his 
doctrinal statements. To mutilate or to misrepresent 
truth is not only a sin against God, but, it may also 
prove the ruin of men's souls. The function of the 
minister is to proclaim the truth of God to men, and 
his first duty is to learn it ; and he will be a traitor to 
himself and to his high calling if he does not resolve, so 
far as he has the power, above all things, to be a theo- 
logian. He may be something besides, but this he must 
be. Spurgeon truly says: "We shall never have great 
preachers until we have great divines.'' 

4) To develop the practical life of the Church. There is a 
close connection between purity of doctrine and purity 
of life. For a misrepresentation of the truth, or a 
defective understanding of the truth, sooner or later, re 
suits in defects of organization, and in errors of opera- 
tion and of life. There is a foundation on which the 
Church rests, and other foundation can no man lay 
than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. The min- 
ister must know the development of the Church in faitli 



2(5 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

and creed, he must be enriched by the lessons of the 
Church's past, for his labor in preparing the way for the 
Church of the future. The science of theology is neces- 
sary for the upbuilding of the Church. 
3. Because it is possible. 

Amid the conflicting systems of theology, and the 
warfare of pretended science against all theology, the 
question of Pilate more than ever arises, What is Truth? 
That the science of theology is possible has been denied 
even by those who profess to feel the necessity of it and 
To yearn for the possession of it, Shedd 1 maintains that 
t he sceptical estimate of theology is unscientific, because 
it is founded upon 8 superficial knowledge of thesources 
and objects of the science. He proves this in the cases 
of the attacks made by Hume, Gibbon, Buckle, Draper, 
Froude, and others, and holds that theology is absolute 
science in contradistinction to relative knowledge, and 
that there is no science rightly entitled to be denominated 
absolute, and metaphysically certain as theology. 
Strong: "The possibility of theology has a threefold 
ground : 1) In the existence of a God who has relations 
to the universe; 2) in the capacity of the human mind 
for knowing God and certain of these relations ; and 3) 
in God's actual revelation of himself and certain of those 
relations." 

The objection, also, has been made that theology 
can not be regarded as a science, because the truths that 
arel herein contained arenot proper objects of knowledge, 
because they are to be apprehended only by faith. But 
faith and knowledge do not stand in such relation to 
each other, as to preclude the possibility of theological 
science. Faith is only a higher sort of knowledge. By 
faith we apprehend what is beyond our knowledge. The 
three elements of faith are knowledge, assent and conti- 

' Dogmatic Theology, Vol. I. Pp. 19—58. 



THE CLAIMS OF THEOLOGY. 2< 

tlence; the first two are acts of the intellect, and the 
third an act of the will. 1 This intimate coherence of 
faith and knowledge is constantly and expressly referred 
to in the Bible itself (1 Cor. 13: 12; 14: 20;.l John 2: 20). 

There has been, indeed, even in theChurch, a disposi- 
tion to exalt one over the other. The Alexandrian tend- 
ency was to give "gnosis" or knowledge a higher place 
than "pistis" or faith, which rests on authority, while the 
principle of Augustine, adopted by the Scholastics, was: 
crede ut intelligas; fides prcecedit intellectum, — "believe that 
thou rnayest understand; faith precedes understanding." 
But the question is not which precedes, but what is their 
relation to each other. Jacob/' (d. 1819) confessed that 
to him the dualism of faith and knowledge was hopeless. 
The Hegelian philosophy resolved faith into knowledge. 
Schleiermacher (d. 1843) maintained "that understand- 
ing and emotion are the two foci of our ellipse, and that 
oscillation is the universal form of all finite being." 

In this whole discussion we must lay stress upon the 
fact, that faith itself, as such, is already a knowledge ; 
— that it is an immediate and remains the immanent 
presupposition throughout the unfolding of this know- 
ledge: that the antithesis of faith is not knowledge, but 
sight and mathematical demonstration. 

Christlieb 2 : "All knowledge is, in the last instance, 
conditioned by faith ; and faith is the preliminary and 
the medium of every act of intelligence. He who believes 
nothing, knows nothing. The antithesis is not that of 
faith and knowledge, but that of faith and unbelief." 
4. Because its results are in harmony with those of genuine 
philosophy* . 

There are those who maintain that philosophy and 
theology are irreconcilable. Hence some repudiate phil- 

i So Gerhard and Philippi. 

2 See his Modern Doubt and Christian Belief, pp. 124 — 135. 

3 Compare Krauth's Manuscript Lectures. 



28 [NTBODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

os()])hy, considering theology as the fixed point,— while- 
very many repudiate theology, denying its claims on the 
ground that it cannot be in harmony with philosophy. 
It is very true, that within the domain of theological 
thinking, even in the Christian Church, very different 
philosophical schools have risen and flourished. The 
straggle between Kealism and Nominalism ran through 
generations. Aristotle and Plato have alternated as. 
masters of Christian philosophy. Plato represents, in 
genera], the idealistic tendency, and Aristotle, the prac- 
tical and positive. Almost all philosophy is in some 
sense a development of one or the other of these tenden- 
cies, or an attempt to unite them. Luther spoke with 
special violence against the Aristotelian philosophy and 
perverted reason, and barren speculation in general. 
Melanchthon, who was more profoundly learned in 
Greek philosophy than Luther, thought better of Ari- 
stotle, and indeed advocated a sober Aristotelianism. 
The later orthodox theologians of our Church come 
more in contact with logic as one of the philosophical 
sciences, than with metaphysical speculation. Philo- 
sophical sobriety and caution are eminently character- 
istics of the Lutheran Theology, and very few of its 
arguments and none of its doctrines rest on philosoph- 
ical "data," which latter are ever likely to be subjects of 
dispute among men of solid thought. 

Hollaz truly says : k 'Philosophy is not contrary or 
contradictory to revealed theology." Philosophy and 
theology should be made mutual co-workers. The fixed 
results of both are in harmony, and as the head and 
heart of man work conjointly, if they work healthily, so 
should Philosophy and Theology harmonize in their 
working and in their results. 

The words of St. Paul (Col. 2: 8) imply no condemn- 
ation of a true philosophy, but the vei j y contrary. He 



THE CLAIMS OF THEOLOGY. 29 

implies that there is a true philosophy which is no 
•empty deceit, is not after the tradition of men, and is 
according to Christ. But philosophy must be regarded 
only as a handmaid to theology. 

Calovius says: "Philosophy is not opposed to The- 
ology: 1) because the true agrees with the true, and 
does not antagonize it, for what is known by the light 
of nature is no less true than that what is revealed in 
Scripture; 2) because natural and philosophical know- 
ledge has its origin also in God; 3) because philosophy 
leads to a knowledge of God." But Quenstedt truly says: 
* 'Although Philosophy and the principles of Reason are 
not indeed contrary to Theology, nor the latter to the 
former, still there is a very great difference between 
those things that are divinely revealed in Scripture, and 
those which are known by the light of nature." 

Theology does not condemn the use of Philosophy, 
but its abuse and its affectation of directorship as norm- 
ative and decisive in divine things. 

Luihardt: " Philosophy is the science of the natural 
consciousness, Theology of the renewed Christian con- 
sciousness ; the former has to do with the world of crea- 
tion and the general principles of Being, the latter treats 
of the world of Redemption and of Salvation; theformer 
busies itself with theoretical issues, the latter with the 
practical issues of life." 

5. The Limitations of Theology. 
Theology is progressive, in the sense that our sub- 
jective understanding of the facts with regard to God, 
and our consequent expositions of these facts, may and 
do become more perfect. But theology is not progress- 
ive, if by this be meant that its objective facts change, 
either in their number or their nature. The limitations 
of theology lie: 1) In the finiteness of the human un- 



3Q INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

derstanding; 2) in the imperfect state of science, both 
natural and metaphysical; 3) in the inadequacy of 
language; 4) in the incompleteness of our knowledge of 
the Scripture; B) in the silence of written revelation: 
6) in the hick of spiritual discernment caused by sin. 1 
§ 4. The Organism of Theology. 

Positive Theology by its own nature divides 
itself into four main departments: 1) Biblical or 
Exegetical, 2) Historical, 3) Systematic, and 4) 
Practical. There can be no question as to the 
general correctness of this division, though there 
may be some in regard to the order of succession. 
Every division, however, is only relative, for in 
every single department of theological study all 
the others are involved. Each takes the hand of 
the other, and affords an outlook into the other. 
7. Fuller Definition. 

1) Exegetical Theology comprises all that relates to 
1 he exposition and elucidation of the Holy Scriptures. It 
consequently embraces Exegesis as an art, and all the 
branches of knowledge auxiliary to that art. To it 
belong the sciences of Sacred Philology, Biblical Archaeology, 
Isagogics or Biblical Introduction and Canonics, Biblical 
Criticism (Textual and Higher), Hermeneutics, and Exegesis, 
i\* the practical application of Hermeneutics. 

2) The result of the application of Exegetical Theo- 
logy to the IJible lays the foundation of Historical The- 
ology. It begins with Sacred History, and includes what 
has been developed in the Churh in the shape of Church 
History and the History of Doctrine. Consequently it 
reaches back in its beginning into Exegesis and ends by 
throwing a bridge over into Systematic Theology. To 

i Strong, pp. 18,19. Ed. 1886. 



THE ORGANISM OF THEOLOGY. 31 

Historical Theology belong the sciences of Sacred History, 
Biblical Theology (Old and New Testament), Church History, 
Ecclesiastical Archaeology, History of Doctrines, Patristics, Sym- 
bolics and Statistics. 

3) Systematic Theology is the highest form of theol- 
ogical science. It is the scientific and connected presen- 
tation of Christian doctrine in its relation to both faith 
and morals. For its successful study a previous culture 
is demanded, of an exegetical, historical and philosoph- 
ical charachter It naturally comprises the sciences of 
Apologetics, Dogmatics and Ethics. Although we accept the 
fact of Christianity as a divine fact, this presupposition 
must be justified by science to the religious conscious- 
ness. Hence Apologetics properly precedes the treatment 
of purely dogmatic topics. 

4) Practical Theology embraces the theory of the ac- 
tivities of the Church as these reveal themselves in the 
Church as a whole, and in the individual members and 
representatives of it, acting in the name of the Church. 
It presupposes all those branches of knowledge through 
which religion, in general, and Christianity, in partic- 
ular, attain their scientific establishment and shape. To 
Practical Theology belong the sciences of Catechetics, 
Liturgies, Homiletics, Pastoral Theology, Evangelistics (Foreign 
Missions), Diaconics (Home Missions), and Gybernetics 
(Church Polity). 

2. Dogmatics and Ethics. 
The attempt was first made to treat these topics 
separately by the Reformed divines. Calixtus (d. 165fi) 
was the first who introduced the change into the Luth- 
eran Church, and the convenience and satisfactory char- 
acter of this change have led to its almost universal 
adoption. Dogmatics and Ethics have usually been re- 
garded as parallel sciences. The first gives an answer 
to the question, What thinkest thou of Christ? The 



:{2 INTRODUCTION TO DOGM4.TIC THEOLOGY. 

second to the question, What thinkest thou of the true 
character of a Christian upon earth? The two sciences 
are so interlaced that Dogmatics cannot wholly leave 
Ethics untouched, and Ethics would become a small 
science indeed, if it were fully sundered from Dogmatics. 
There have not been wanting eminent theologians of 
recent date, who have been disposed to return to the 
old union in the treatment of these departments. The 
division, in fact, of Dogmatics and Ethics, is rather one 
of convenience, resulting from the vast range of their 
subjects, than one made necessary by the nature of the 
case. Such a division, however, is favorable to the full 
and clear handling of both, and it is easy for the stu- 
dent, who masters them both, in separate treatises, to 
combine both in his heart, mind, life and labor. 

§ 5. Name and Definition of Dogmatics. 

Dogmatics is the science which presents in 
their connection and mutual relations, the doc- 
trines or dogmas, Avhich it is its aim to reproduce 
from the religious faith of the Christian himself, 
in harmony with the Scriptures and the teach- 
ing of the Church. 1 

/. The Name of the Science. 

The name of this department of Theology has been 
various. Melanchthon calls his work "Loci." It has 
also been called "Corpus Doctrime;" Calvin called his 
work "Institt^tio;" Baler calls his "Positive Theology;" 
Quenstedt, "Systematic and Thetic Theology." In the 
1 71 h century the name Dogmatic Theology was introduced, 
and since Buddeus (d. 1721)) this name has been the 
predominant one. No other name so accurately ex- 
presses what this branch of Theology proposes to itself. 

i Luthardt. 



NAME AM) DEFINITION OF DOGMATICS. 33 

In English usage we have the terms— "Systematic Theol- 
ogy,'' '"System of Theology,' 1 "Christian Dogmatics," 
"System of Christian Doctrine," etc. The term Dogm- 
atic Theology or Dogmatics marks it as one of the three 
departments of Systematic Theology, which latter in- 
cludes also Apologetics and Ethics. 

2. Definition of the word Dogma. 

The Greek word occurs first in the writings of Xeno- 
phon and Plato, and its primary meaning is decree, a 
conclusion of a popular assembly. In this sense of a 
decree, an ordinance, it is used in the New Testament. In 
a secondary sense in classical usage, the word dogma 
designates a philosophical proposition, and it is applied 
to the authoritative and categorical 'sentences' of the 
philosophers. Cicero speaks of the "decreta" (tenets), 
"which philosophers call dogmata." The word easily 
passed over to the meaning of "doctrine" or "doctrinal 
statements." Ignatius speaks of "the dogmata of the 
Lord and his Apostles." Origen styles the Apostles as 
"teachers of dogmas." Since the fourth century the 
word has come to be more and more limited to "doc- 
trine," articles of faith, in opposition to the doctrines 
of Ethics, and in distinction from preaching, as the 
popular presentation of truth. 

Martensen: 1 "A confessing and witnessing Church 
cannot be conceived to exist without a definite sum of 
doctrines or dogmas. A dogma is not a subjective hu- 
man opinion, nor an indefinite, vague notion ; nor is it a 
mere truth of reason, whose universal validity can be 
made clear with mathematical or logical certainty. It 
is a truth of faith, derived from the authority of the word 
and revelation of God ;— a positive truth, positive not 
merely by virtue of the positiveness with which it is laid 

i See his Christian Dogmatics. § 1. 



3 | INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

down, but also, and mainly by virtue of the authority 
with which it is sealed.'' 

3. The Definition of Dogmatics. 

The Scholastics and our own older Dogmaticians re- 
garded Dogmatics as an historico-apologetic science,— a 
systematically arranged delineation of the doctrine of 
fche Church, with confirmation of it drawn from Holy 
Writ. According to Quenstedt (d. 1688) "it sets forth 
the theological commonplaces or topics in order, per- 
spicuously explains them, accurately defines the dogmas 
or doctrines of faith, and divides them, deducing them 
from the Holy Scriptures, which is their primary place 
and in which they are grounded, demonstrating them 
from the same.'' Luthardt says that in this definition 
there is wanting the systematic development from a 
material principle, inasmuch as the matter is supposed 
by it to be already finished by the existing Church doc- 
trine. 

At a later period Dogmatics came to be conceived 
of as an historical science. Baumgarten—Crusius (d. 1843) 
says : "There exists at the present time, properly speak- 
ing, three views or modes of delineating Christian doc- 
trine. According to the first, the system of the Church is 
clearly and accurately delineated; according to the 
second, the doctrine of the Church is translated into the 
doctrine of the delineator; according to the third, the 
doctrine of the Church is laid as the basis and compared 
with the doctrine of the Bible. The first of these three 
methods may be called the symbolic, the second the 
philosophic, and the third the historico-critical method. 
As the first of these methods is indolent, and the second 
dishonest, we feel no hesitation in giving preference to 
the third, and the third alone, as the truly Protestant 
way." Schleiermacher defines Dogmatic Theology "as 
the science of tliedoctrines accepted in a Christian Church 



NAME A XI) DEFINITION OF DOGMATICS. 85 

at any particular time." In his "Encyclopaedia" 1 he 

attempts to show that Dogmatics may be orthodox and 
heterodox at the same time, i. e. it is possible to hold 
fast to what is already generally acknowledged, together 
with the consequences which legitimately flow from it, 
and at the same time keep the doctrinal conception 
fluctuating and to strive to make room for new methods 
of apprehending it. To this tendency of the theology 
of Schleiermacher may be largely traced the vacillation, 
vagueness, and indeterminateness of the German Theo- 
logy since his time, down to our own. 

In a somewhat similar strain Dorner also expresses 
himself: "This problem to mentally master Christian 
truth as truth,— must, be regarded as a standing problem 
for the Church, which, consciously and experimentally, 
has to propagate the contents of Christian faith as 
truth. Xo age can undertake the task for another age ; 
each must perform the work anew for itself, however 
valuable may be the aid of the past, and however assured 
the continuity which exists." Rothe also makes Dogmata 
ics an historical and confessional branch of theology 
and separates it from what he considers Speculative 
Theology. As Twesten regards the Christian conscious, 
ness as the point of departure of the genetic treatment, 
he designates dogmatics as a living reproduction of the 
faith of the Church from the soul of the delineator. 

Philippi says: "Systematic Theology has no other 
aim than the teaching of Christian religion, as this is 
established in the experimental consciousness of the 
believer, to reproduce it spiritually and to bring it into 
a scientific, systematic form, for the delineation and 
development in every direction of its divinely wrought 
facts in Jesus Christ." 

i §203—209. English translation bv Farrer under the title "Briel 

Outline of the Study of Theology.' ? Edinburgh, 1850. 



l\(\ [NTBODUCT10N TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

Kahnis defines Christian Dogmatics as having for its 
aim the unfolding of the articles of faith from the mate- 
ria/ principle of justification by faith, and the demonstra- 
tion of them from the formal principle of the absolute 
authority of Scripture. Yet more decisive in demanding 
purely reproductive treatment, Hofmann 1 designates the 
Christian doctrinal system as the scientific self expres- 
sion of the theologian, i. e., of his personal self- dependent 
relation to God. He says, in expanding this idea: "This 
systematic activity is not the describing of the religious 
state of mind appropriate to Christians, nor an echo of 
the contents of the spiritual and Church doctrine in the 
particular shape which they take in my own mind, nor 
a derivation of the Christian knowledge from one ulti- 
mate principle, but it is the unfolding of the simple 
matter of fact which makes the Christian a Christian, 
and distinguishes him from one who is not a Christian, 
thus exhibiting the manifold richness of its matter." So 
also in substance Frank. 

Marten sen: "Dogmatics is not only a science of faith, 
but also a knowledge grounded in, and drawn fro m faith. 
It is not a mere historical exhibition of what has been, 
or now is, true for others, without being true for the 
author ; nor is it a philosophical knowledge of Christian 
truth, obtained from a standpoint outside of faith and 
the Church." Dogmatics, then, is the sum of the truths 
embraced in the Christian faith in their organic connec- 
tion with the facts of religious consciousness. It appre- 
hends divine truth primarily on its intellectual side. It 
is the science of that, of which the Christian affections 
and the Christian life are the great art. We can only 
sunder it from them theoretically, practically it should 
never be sundered from them. 

1 In his Schriftbeweis, T. pp. 9—11. Reference will be made to 
Mrst edition 'I vols. 1852—5."). 



NAME AND DEFINITION OF DOGMATICS. 37 

4. Relation to other Branches of Theology. 

Systematic Theology (covering Apologetics, Dogmat- 
ics, and Ethics), as the high est form of theological science, 
follows the study of Exegetical and Historical Theology. 
Dogmatics presupposes the truth of Christianity in gen- 
eral, and therefore Apologetics properly precedes the 
treatment of the purely dogmatic topics, and may pro- 
perly be regarded as an independent introduction to 
Dogmatics. As Dogmatics forms the centre of theology, 
we may expect to find in it the results of exegetical and 
historical investigation, and so connected as to form a 
scientific whole, thus laying the basis for the doctrine of 
morals (Ethics), and for Practical Theology. The whole 
of Ethics will find its appropriate place, not within 
Dogmatics, but at its end. 

Biblical Theology, or the exposition of the doctrinal 
and ethical contents of Scripture, is the historical counter- 
part of Dogmatics and Ethics, not their substitute, and 
precedes the study of Dogmatics. We must lay stress 
upon the historical character of Biblical Theology in 
order to preserve Dogmatics and Ethics their individual- 
ity and independence as theological sciences. Biblical 
Theology as a department of Historical Theology has 
for its aim to represent the religious ideas and doctrines 
of the Bible, while Dogmatics as a historico-philosoph- 
ical science aims to unify and systematize the results of 
historical exegesis. Biblical Theology is thus nothing- 
else than the exegetical foundation for Dogmatic Theol- 
ogy. It furnishes the material with which this latter 
science builds, but we must not forget, as has been truly 
remarked by Dr. Shedd, that Dogmatic theology should 
balance and correct Biblical Theology for two reasons: 
1) Because Biblical Theology, as a rule, is based only 
upon certain parts of Scripture, and its method is 
fractional ; 2 ) Because it is more easv to introduce sub- 



•'IS INTRODUCTION OF DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

jective individual opinions into a part of the Bible, than 
into the whole of it. 



II. CONTENTS OF DOGMATICS. 

§ 6. Name and Definition of Religion. 

Religion is the relation of the fellowship of 
man with God, a relation grounded in the nature 
of man and actualized in Christianity. 

/ . The Universal Fact of Religion. 
The famous classic saying of Cicero, "Among so 
many kinds of creatures there is none besides man which 
has any knowledge of God ; among men there is no 
people so wild and savage as not to have believed in a 
God, even if it does not know what one," 1 expresses 
nothing but an undeniable fact. The experience of cen- 
turies has corroborated it. No people is without a 
consciousness of God. Wherever human beings have 
been found, there, too, has religion been found. The low- 
est tribes have conscience, fear death, believe in witches, 
and try to frighten away evil fates. 

2. The Word Religion. 
The derivation of the word religion has been much 
discussed, a) Some would derive it frotn"re/inquere," 
as designating a separating from the world ; b) Lactan- 
tius derives the word from "religare," to bind back, as 
indicating that bond of piety with which we are united 
to God. So Augustine and our older Dogmaticians; c) 
But the true derivation is from relegere, "to ponder over a 
thing," thus designating a diligent attention to those 
1 hings which pertain to the worship of God. So already 
Cicero and tin 4 Inter grammarians; also Philippiandthe 
Later Dogmaticians. 

i Cic. De legibus. i: 8, 24. 



NAME AM) DEIIXITIOX OF RELIGION. 



39 



3. The Definition of Religion. 
In the word religion, and in the related Greek words 
used in the New Testament (threskeia, latreia, and the 
original for "superstitious'' in Acts 17: 22), is expres- 
sed a relation of man to God, the particular character 
of which cannot be known from the words themselves. 
The most wide-reaching, broad, yet definite, expression 
of the relation to God, which is involved in the true use 
of the word religion, is expressed by Augustine in the 
first passage of his ''Confessions": "Thou, God, hast 
made us for thyself, and onr heart is at unrest, until it 
rests in thee.' 5 The universal religious tendency demands 
as a postulate, communion with God, in some shape or 
other. This feeling is common to all forms of faith, how- 
ever dim it may be, and however obscured by supersti- 
tion. It springs from the innate yearning of thecreature 
for pardon, love, and fellowship with the Creator. It 
is the aspiration of the intellectual and moral being to- 
wards its source,— as St. Paul expresses it,— it is a 
feeling and seeking after God, if haply they might find 
him (Acts 17: 27). Christianity is the actuality of this 
fellowship, and at the same time is also the actualizing 
of the ideal of religion. Beck 1 says: "Christianity as 
the religion for the whole world, must of necessity em- 
brace all the genuine elements of all religion; and just 
as necessarily must present in itself the essence of all 
religion, as it judges and rejects all that conflicts with 
the essence." Philippi remarks 2 , "that it has become 
a pretty general proposition of the Xew Theology, in its 
various forms and tendencies, so far as it can yet claim 
the name Christian, to define Christianity, the Chris- 
tian religion, as a fellowship of man with God, mediated 

i Iu his Einleitung in das System der christlichen Lehre. Stuttgart 
1838. Page 40. 

2 In his Kirchliche Glaubenslehre, I. i. 



40 [NTBODUCTION OF DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

through Christ, or to speak more accurately, restored 
through Christ. This principle, which has become a 
dogmatic presupposition, is in fact sufficiently strict in 
the distinction it draws, to exclude every unchristian 
and antichristian point of view, and yet again in its. 
simplicity and comprehensiveness, -broad enough, to em- 
brace every Christian point of view, properly such, how- 
ever diverse may be the forms of that view." 

Martensen: All religion is a sense of God's existencer 
and of man's relation to God. Religion may therefore 
be more accurately described as man's consciousness of 
his communion with God, of his union with God. It is 
a relation of personal life and being to God, in the true 
sense of the word, a life in God... The religious feeling in 
its fundamental form is a feeling of unbounded reverence- 
In this is involved the deepest feeling of dependence, of 
muteness, of creatureship, of humility; at the same time, 
it implies that the Power on which I feel myself to be 
dependent is the good, the holy Power to which I feel 
myself in my conscience bound; not a Fate, which can be 
an object of fear only, not of reverence. 1 

§ 7. The Origin and Essential Character of Religion. 

Religion is not merely a matter of a single 
side of the life of a soul, but is a fact of the entire 
internal life. It has its origin in tlie very nature 
and essence of man and is the tie of personal re- 
lationship between man and God. 

/. The Origin of Religion. 
Eteligiou is not the invention of statesmen and in- 
t riguing rulers, a view advocated by some of the Deists. 
Atheists and Materialists of the Inst century: nor isitto 

Dogmatics. § 4, 7. 



THE ORIGIN AND ESSENTIAL CHARACTER OE RELIGION. 41 

be traced to the phenomena of nature, or the perception 
of marks of design in nature; neither are we to regard 
the intellectual tendency of the mind as the root of religi- 
ous faith and devotion, thus making religion the fruit of 
an intellectual curiosity ; neither did it take its origin in 
fetich-worship of ancestors ; neither are we to regard it 
simply as the result of divine instruction, as the older 
dogmaticians,— but religion is an inner necessity of 
man. Its origin is found in the aspirations of the hu- 
man soul. It is as essential for man to have a religion 
as it is for man to love. As man cannot live without 
his fellow-men, so can he not live without God. It can 
as little be called an invention as eating, drinking, 
sleeping, or talking. It is a thing natural, intrinsically 
necessary, rooted in man's very being. It is that remains 
of the divine image through which all external self- 
attestation of God enters. Man is a religious being and 
has a capacity for this divine life. He is only actually 
religious when he enters into a living relation with God. 

2. The Essentia/ Character of Religion. 1 
The universality of religion is a proof of its intrinsic 
necessity. It has its grounds, its cause, and its necessity 
in the very constitution and essence of the human spirit. 
The very existence of man presupposes the religions 
craving, the seeking after God. God is the deepest need 
of man, his highest aim, and that for which he is in- 
cessantly striving. All the powers of our mind do not 
find their aim till they find God. CommunionAvithGodis 
the truth of man, religion his true life. Without religion 
he can not truly be called man. There is a tie between 
us and God — a tie of relationship. As iron tends towards 
the magnet, as the rivers empty themselves into the sea, 

i Compare Luthardt's Apologetic Lectures on the Fundamental 
Truths of Christianity. Edinburgh, 18G9. This whole paragraph has 

bei-'ii condensed from Lecture (5. 



\-J INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

;is 1 be si one is attracted towards the earth, so is the soul 
drawn to (Jod, its origin and its home. This tie, this 
a1 1 rad ion of the soul toward God, this craving for love, 
for personal fellowship, for intimate familiar intercourse, 
is the foundation of all religion, all revelation. 

Such is the cause of religion in man, and its dwelling- 
place is his inmost soul. 

§ 8. The Actuality and Truth of Religion. 

In its psychological actuality, as subjective, 
Religion is not a matter of mere knowledge, or of 
mere will, or of mere emotion, but of the whole 
inner man, of the heart. All definitions which 
present one of these three to the exclusion of 
both the others, or two of these to the exclusion 
of the third, are defective, if not absolutely false. 
Mere knowledge is rationalism or dead orthodox- 
ism ; mere activity is legalism or morality ; mere 
emotion is fanaticism or mysticism; but heavenly 
knowledge, applied by the Holy Ghost to the 
renewal of the affections and the producing of an 
earnest spirit, whose fruits are deeds of love, is 
tin* basis, and in its connection, the completion 
of true religion. 

In its historical actuality, as objective, it is 
a matter of fellowship, manifesting itself in the 
common religious life. Positive religion has its 
truth and actuality in Christianity. 

/ . Religion in its subjective sense. 
Religion 1ms beeD variously contemplated as a mat- 
in- of knowledge, a matter of will, or a matter of emo- 



THE ACTUALITY AND TRUTH OF RELIGION. 43 

tion ; but in fact it is not a matter of isolated points in 
the spiritual life,— it is each one of these, and all of these, 
and more than all. Religion is a matter of knowledge, 
for to know the only true God and Jesus Christ is life 
eternal (John 17: 3). But religion is not a mere sub- 
ject of knowledge, for knowledge does not make a man 
pious, nor does orthodoxy constitute him a believer. It 
is a matter of the will, for it must be a moral act, and 
Jesus himself says : "If any man willeth to do his will, 
he shall know of the teaching" (John 7: 17). But re- 
ligion is not a mere willing and doing, it is also a mat- 
ter of the feelings, for it is "peace aud joy in the Holy 
Ghost" (Rom. 14: 17). But neither is it this alone; it 
is at once knowing, willing, and feeling, because it is the 
matter of the whole inner man, of the root of his per- 
sonal life, — of the heart, as Scripture designates the cen- 
tre of the personal life of the inner man. For the Bible 
transfers the abode of religion, and the transactions of 
the religious life, to the heart. The Word must pierce the 
heart (Acts 2: 37); the heart must be open to the Word 
{Acts 16: 14); with the heart man believeth unto right- 
eousness (Rom. 10: 10.) 

Our Lutheran Dogmaticians do not discuss this point 
till after the time of Gerhard, when Quenstedt (d. 1688) 
and Hollaz (d. 1713) define the Christian Religion "as 
that mode of worshiping the true God, which is pre- 
scribed in his Word." Baier (d. 1695) defines religion 
as "the acts of the mind and of the will, which are oc- 
cupied concerning God, in which acts God is rightly 
acknowledged and rightly Avorshiped." Buddeus (d. 
1729) says : "It is usual to separate religion into two 
parts, the true knowledge of God, and the worship 
which is due to him." He observes in this connection 
that in his day the greater stress was laid upon the 
knowledge of God, "for," says he, "it is most common 



44 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

to distinguish the religions into which the world is 
divided by the doctrines or opinions which men cherish 
concerning God and divine things.'' Since the time of 
Buddeus, the ordinary definition of religion has been "a 
mode of knowing. and worshiping God." 

Rationalism and supernativralism regard religion as 
a knowledge, and regard cultus or worship as the exer- 
cise of religion. 

Schleiermacher defines religion as "a determina- 
tion of emotion. " But religion is not to be regarded as 
a mere determination, i. e., as something passive, and 
consequently is not the mere feeling of a bare condition 
in which the man himself is, as it were, put out of the 
question, but it is a personal relation. In consequence 
of this truer view and over against Schleiermacher, 
Beck says : "The psychological primal shape of religion 
cannot lie in an isolated fact of the spiritual life, nor in 
one isolated activity, as, for example, emotion, for 
religion embraces in its very origin all factors and acti- 
vities of the spiritual life in their unity." He says in 
another place, "the essence of all actual religion rests 
upon and contains, both as to its form, and objective 
and subjective reality, faith ; this is true also of its basis 
and its contents" (2 Cor. 5: 7: Heb. 11). Similar views 
are expressed by Philippi and Kahnis. 

The fellowship, however, of the individual with God 
involves and is followed bv the common life of religion, 
o]- as Kahnis 1 expresses it, — "is not a mere knowing, 
not a mere feeling, not a mere willing, but rather a con- 
sciousness (knowledge combined with conviction) of 
God on the ground of emotion, accompanied by moral 
surrender." 

i See his Dogm. I. 112. 



THE ACTUALITY AND TRUTH OF RELIGION. 45 

2. Religion in the objective sense. 

In its objective sense religion is the common religious 
life presenting itself in doctrine, constitution and wor- 
ship, and is, consequently, in one aspect, the sequel 
as it is in another, the presupposition, of subjective 
religion. Its self-presentation is a thing of internal 
necessity. Thus the subjective religion which we call 
Lutherauism, is the result of the subjective faith of the 
great restorers of the pure faith; but once established, 
it becomes the presupposition to the subjective faith of 
those who hold it in its pure form. The renewed Chris- 
tianity of the sixteenth century, the Reformation, was 
the result of the faith of the Reformers, and our faith is 
the result of the Reformation. Man is not merely an 
individual, an isolated intellectual being, but a being of 
history and fellowship. 

3. True and False Religion. 

When we speak of false religion we use the word re- 
ligion improperly, for that is only properly religion , which 
involves the true worship of the true God. The true re- 
ligion is that which is conformed to the Divine Word. A 
false religion either gives worship to a false god or gives 
false worship to the true God (Hollaz). 

The marks of the true religion are thus stated by 
Hollaz. i 

1) It is the most ancient religion. Error may be old, 
but truth is always older, inasmuch as God is older 
than the devil. Paganism is old, but revealed religion 
is older; Polytheism is old, but Monotheism is the old- 
est religion. The earliest record of the true religion is in 
the first two chapters of Genesis. If Satan and his host 
fell early, they were holy still earlier. 

i And developed by Dr. Krauth in his Manuscript Lectures, from 
which I have adapted this paragraph. 



46 [XTKOIHCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

2) It was approved by the Fathers even of the Old Testa- 
ment. It is a mark of the true religion, that it has al- 
ways had an unbroken life in the history of the world. 
from the earliest patriarchs to the present hour. 

3) It illustrates the glory of God. False religion obscures 
that glory and utterly sets it aside. "They change/' says 
St. Paul, "the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of 
an image of corruptible man" (Horn. 1: 23). 

-i) True religion rightly teaches faith in Jesus, the author 
of salvation. It solves the great problem of redemption ; 
it tells us what redemption is, who our Redeemer is, even 
Jesus Christ, shows us how w r e are united to him, and 
rightly teaches that faith. It alone meets the deepest 
yearnings of our human being; other religions either 
obscure man's desire after redemption, or deepen his 
sense of miser\ T , or drive him to useless and cruel modes, 
in which he attempts to propitiate God. 

5) True religion earnestly inculcates holiness of life. It 
furnishes the power by God's grace of perfecting holi- 
ness in the fear of the Lord. False religions, on the other 
hand, are immoral, either by positive teaching favorable 
to vice, or by lack of power to bring forth holy living. 

G) True religion alone gives a peaceful conscience. The 
sense of disturbed relation between God and the sinner, 
with the pang which it brings, has found relief in noth- 
ing but the religion of the Bible. Other religions leave 
the conscience either in perfect torment, lull it into false 
security, sear it into apathy, or abandon it to despair. 

7) True religion alone produces joy and peace in the hour 
of death. False religion may produce a spiritual torpor, 
or a defiant and fierce attitude of the soul in dying, but 
true religion alone gives pure trust and hope, which 
knows its own reason, and a calm and sometimes 
triumphant departure from this world. It alone robs 
death of its sting and the grave of its victory. 



THE ACTUALITY AND TRUTH OP RELIGION. 47 

The difficulty indeed is not to find manifold marks 
to distinguish the true religion from the false, but to 
select from the vast number. The great danger of pre- 
senting the Evidences of Christianity is that of confusing 
the mind and weakening the impression by dwelling on 
too many. Quenstedt describes the characteristics of the 
true religion as follows : 1) Divine sublimity (divine in 
its origin) ; 2) Unity ; 3) Truth; 4) Perfection (contains 
perfectly and sufficiently all things necessary to faith 
and Christian life) ; 5) Holiness (it teaches a knowledge 
of a holy God, the cultivation of a holy life, it communi- 
cates holy precepts, reveals holy mysteries); 6) Necess- 
ity: 7) Utility; 8) Antiquity; 9) Invincibility; 10) Perpe- 
tuity; 11) Spontaneity (is not compulsory, but seeks to 
be taught, and calls for unconstrained assent); 12) 
Varied treatment (exposed to various persecutions, ob- 
scured but not extinguished, oppressed but not sup- 
pressed); 13) Efficacy (in illustrating the glory of God, 
in soothing the conscience, in converting men, in cherish- 
ing growth in piety, etc.). 

The truth of religion reveals itself in this, that it is 
the truth of man, that truth which brings man to the 
great goal of his being, in whatever respect we consider it, 
—for God is the goal of man, of man's individual life, 
and of man in society, and all man's advance is con- 
ditioned by religion. The Christian religion is the true 
religion, because it restores the fellowship of man with 
God through Christ. 

The perversions of Religion arise out of the perver- 
sions of the relation of the consciousness of God and the 
consciousness of the world. 

Luthardt classifies this perversion in a fourfold way : 

1. The mingling or identification of the two, God 
and the world, leading to Pantheism when the universe 
is regarded as a whole with God, and to Polytheism when 



43 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

it is regarded in its separate constituents. Pantheism 
does away with the idea of God, of spirit, and of moral 
freedom. It so blends God and the world, that God is 
the world and the world is God, and there is neither true 
world nor true God. The philosophic tendency of Pan- 
theism lias moved under two opposite impulses. Under 
the first it merges God in the world, and thus falls into 
Materialism; in the other it merges the world into God, 
and thus becomes Absolute Idealism. Over against this 
tendency theology can only link itself with the philos- 
ophy which acknowledges a living, personal God. Poly- 
theism is the theory which assumes the existence of many 
o-ods. It had its origin in nature worship and in the 
principles of pantheism. Whenever it appears as a 
philosophy it appears as the exoteric counterpart of 
pantheism. 

The superstition, which is connected with the errors 
of Pantheism and Polytheism, mistakes or ignores the 
moral nature of the relation between God and man. 

2 . The second perversion results from the false sepa- 
ration of these two spheres of consciousness, leading to 
Deism and a mechanical view of the world. Deism ac- 
knowledges the personality of God, believes him to be 
Creator of all things, but separates him from the world, 
so far as all continuous and sympathetic relation is 
concerned. To Deism the world is a great clock, made, 
wound up, and set going, and then left by its Creator. 
God makes the world and then forsakes the world. He 
is the creator of man, but not his father, he has put 
forth his hand to make us, but he never opens his mouth 
to speak to us. Deism, therefore, denies a particular 
providence, a supernatural revelation, miracles, prophe- 
cies, redemption, and the work of the Spirit. As it isthe 
vice of Pantheism that ib makes God immanent in the 
world so as to be confounded with it, so it is the char- 



THE ACTUALITY AND TRUTH OF KELIGI0X. 49 

acteristic vice of Deism, to deny that relative imma- 
nence of God in the world, by which he conserves it, 
guides it, and controls it for the highest ends of his wis- 
dom and love. 1 

3. The third perversion of religion is that, in which 
the consciousness of the world is unduly suppressed by 
the consciousness of God, as in Mysticism. Mysticism sets 
aside the cosmical, because it is finite, allows it no valid- 
ity over against the divine. It strives to rise to direct 
communion with God, but loses itself in the infinite ful- 
ness. It is antithetical to reception on authority (pistis, 
^'faitli"), and to the recognition of truth by the or- 
dinary use of the faculties (gnosis, ' 'knowledge") ; but 
in its soberer forms it takes both into its service, holding 
them in a relative subservience 2 . Dispensing with the 
means of grace, often beginning in a pure, deep piety, it 
has run out in dangerous extravagances. Often it has 
been a reaction against the externalism of a dead church. 
The grades of mysticism were purification, illumination, 
ecstatic union, and absorption. It was generally the- 
istic, but in no small number of cases pantheistic. Of 
Mysticism as a "perversion" we have illustrations in 
the old Anabaptists, in Paracelsus, Boehme, Sweden- 
borg, and among the Quakers and Swedenborgians. 
There is a pure internalism to which the name Mysticism 
is sometimes given, which is not to be confounded with 
it as we here use the term. 

4. The fourth perversion of religion rises from the 
suppression of the consciousness of God by the con- 
sciousness of the world. This looks so steadily at the 
work that it forgets the worker,— it is so absorbed in 
the motion, that it does not think of the mover. It re- 
gards the beautiful harmony of the world as if it were 

i Compare Manuscript Lectures of Dr. Krauth. 

2 See Article on Mysticism iu Johnson's Cyclopaedia by Dr. Krauth. 



50 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

self-caused. This perversion is Atheism, and in philos- 
ophy, Materialism. Atheism may be either speculative or 
practical; the former consists in denying the existence 
of God ; the latter in living as if there were no (rod. 

4. Natural and Positive Religion. 

Religion is divided into natural and positive. When 
we speak of Natural Religion, we do not mean precisely 
what is generally called "The Religion of Nature," nor 
the philosophical abstraction of English Deism since the 
seventeenth century. We mean rather the religion cor- 
respondent with what we call Natural Theology. The 
Religion of Nature generally means a system developed 
in professed independence of Revelation and often in an- 
tagonism to it. It is the religion, for the most part, of 
infidels. By Natural Religion we here mean those prin- 
ciples which are involved in the very structure of human 
thinking, the psychological basis of Positive Religion. All 
positive religion assumes certain things as fixed. It 
does not prove them, but accepts them and builds on 
them, as the first verse of the Bible takes God for 
granted and begins with his work. 

Lord Herbert of Cherbury (1581—1648) in his work De 
Veritate (1(>24) lays down five fundamental principles^ 
which he maintains have been received at all times and 
in all places, independent of revelation, and which are 
sufficient for salvation. These five propositions are: 1. 
There is a God; 2. The Supreme Being ought to be 
worshiped ; 3. Virtue and Piety are the chief parts of 
the worship of God; 1. The abhorrence of what is 
criminal ought always to be in the soul; 5. There are 
rewards and penalties after this life.— It is manifest that 
Lord Herbert lias borrowed very largely from the Reve- 
lation he proposed to supersede. The work of Herbert 
was answered in 1(>(>7 by the grea*t divine, John Musaeus 



THE ACTUALITY AND TRUTH OF RELIGION. 51 

of Jena, in his Dissertation on "The light of nature and 
the Natural Theology which rests on it, are insufficient 
for salvation." Baier in his Compend, 1 following Musaeus 
says: "Natural Theology can be thus defined : It is a 
practical science, drawn from the principles of nature, 
concerning God, prescribing to man, who is a pilgrim, a 
worship fitting the character of God, and explaining, 
confirming, and defending it, in order to secure that 
eternal blessedness, which is to be obtained in God and 
from God." Inasmuch as sin has obscured natural re- 
ligion, it, as a consequence, is prevented from knowing 
anything of that propitiation which sin itself has made 
necessary, and hence Baier infers that natural religion 
is insufficient for salvation. 

Positive Religion, in accordance with the new usage of 
language subsequent to Kant and Schleiermacher, is a 
product of history, rests upon the institution of Relig- 
ion, and appeals for its doctrines and precepts to Divine 
authority, and has its truth and actuality in Christian- 
ity. It belongs only to God himself to prescribe for man 
how T he wishes to be served and worshiped, and only by 
the aid of the higher revelation can we explain the origi- 
nal development of the religious life. "We may conclude 
in the twofold proposition : 1) All religion has its origin 
in original revelation; 2) Pure religion requires con- 
tinuous and nearer revelation of God." 2 

Philippi: God can only place himself in fellowship 
with man through revelation; the objective establish- 
ment of this divine fellowship with man is Revelation. 

i Edition of Preuss, 1864. P. 18. 
2 Van Oosterzee: Dogmatics, § 27. 



52 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

S 9. The Essential Character and Truth of Christianity. 

Christianity is the personal fellowship of sal- 
vation on the part of man with God, in the Holy 
Ghost, — a fellowship mediated through Jesus 
Christ, and hence Christianity embraces whatever 
is true in all antecedent religions. 

/. The Relation of Christianity to Heathenism and Judaism. 
According to Philippi (I. 4): "Heathenism seeks but 
fails; Talmudic Judaism and Mohammedanism seek 
but disdain; the Old Testament Judaism has sought 
and has not yet found, moving upon the right path, 
but not attaining to the goal ; Christianity alone has 
found, because in Christ the true and actual fellowship 
of man with God has been founded again." 

Martensen (§ 15): "Heathenism is unacquainted with 
the problem of creation, or the religious problem pre- 
sented by dependence on a holy creative God... Christian- 
ity solves this problem by its gospel of the Incarnation of 
God in Christ... The heathen's notion of the union of God 
andmanisnotthenotionthatGod has become man, but 
that man becomes God, — not the notion of an incarna- 
tion of God, but of an apotheosis of man. The idea of 
incarnation dawns on the Jew in his Messianic hope, but 
is checked by the constant fear of making God and man 
one in essence; for which reason the perfect conception of 
the incarnation is not here found." 

"The separation between heaven and earth is not 
only that between Creator and creature, but between the 
holy God and asinful world. Heathenism knows nothing 
of this problem; Judaism lives and moves in this pro- 
blem : but the restoration of the broken relation, the 
atonement for sin, is in Judaism only foreshadowed by 



THE ESSENTIAL CHARACTER AND TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 53 

types and prophecies. Not until God becomes incarnate 
in Christ, does the true Mediator enter into the world. 
God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself (2 
Cor. 5: 19). In this gospel of the crucified One is con- 
tained the solution of the hard problem of sinfulness/' 

2. The Essentia/ Character of Christianity. 

This lies in the fellowship of salvation with God 
through Jesus Christ. That which is most peculiar in 
Christianity is the attitude taken by the Person of 
Christ, not as an idea simply, but a fact,— God and man 
in personal unity. Our Lord is not merely the founder 
of Religion, but is the subject and center of it. What 
Christ was is more completely essential to Christianity 
than what he taught. 

Martensen (§ 15): "The essence of Christianity is, 
therefore, nothing else than Christ himself. The founder 
of the religion is himself, its sum and substance. He is 
not merely the founder of a religion ; His person cannot 
be separated from the doctrine which he proclaims, but 
has an eternal, ever-present significance for the human 
race. As he is the Mediator and Propitiator, the sacred 
point of unity between God and the sinful world, so is 
He also continually the Redeemer of the human race."' 

The idea of Christianity is inseparable from the con- 
ception of Miracles and Inspiration. We may with 
Martensen 1 , in general terms, designate the miracle of 
the Incarnation as the fundamental miracle of Christian- 
ity. Christ himself is the prime miracle of Christianity, 
since his coming is the absolutely new beginning of a 
spiritual creation in the human race. — He is the new or 
Second Adam. But in order to be able to appropriate 
to itself the new revelation in Christ, the human race 
must also receive a new spirit ; the spirit of Christ must 
i Condensed from §16 of his Dogmatics. 



o4 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

enter into a permanent union with man. The miracle of 
the Incarnation is hence inseparable from thatof//7s/?/>a- 
tion, or the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pente- 
cost. The miracle of inspiration is the same in the sub- 
jective, as the miracle of the revelation of Christ in the 
objective, sphere. To these two new beginnings, which 
form two sides of one and the same fundamental miracle* 
the miracle of the new creation, Christianity and the 
Christian Church trace their origin. 

3. The historical modes of apprehending the essential character 
of Christianity. 
The Greek Church regarded the manifestation of the 
Logos as the absolute divine reason, and hence it con- 
ceived of Christianity as the true Philosophy. The 
Roman Catholic Church laid stress upon the churchly organ- 
ism, as containing the truth and the life-controlling 
power. The Reformation proceeds from the sinner's need 
of salvation and places the essential character of Chris- 
tianity in salvation through justification by faith alone: 
solus Christus, sola fides. 

4. Christianity is the true Religion. 

That Christianity is the true religion can be proved: 
1) by the history of the different religions, comparingChris- 
• tianity with the other so-called religions; 2) psycholog- 
ically, as it alone can satisfy the deepest want of man 
and bring peace to his soul: 3 ) practically, because it alone 
furnishes the power by God's grace of perfecting holiness 
in the Church, and in the heart of the individual. 1 

Strong as these various arguments, and all those 
generally used in the treatment of the Evidences of 
Christianity, may seem to be, they find their full strength 
only when they have been preceded by the evidence of 

i See § 8, a 3 pp. 4.",—- 1-7. 



THE ANTITHESIS OF ROMANISM AND PROTESTANTISM. 55 

Christian experience. You can only know Christianity 
at its full worth when you know it from experience (John 
7: 17: Rom. 1: 16; 1 Cor. 2: 4, 5, 10; 2 Cor. 4: 6, 13). ' 

§ 10. The Antithesis of Romanism and Protestantism. 

Romanism makes the truth dependent on the 
guarantees of the Church, hierarchically consti- 
tuted, i. e. the Roman Church, and thus exalts 
ecclesiastical legitimacy to the principle which 
alone is decisive. Protestantism contemplates 
the essence of Christianity in the truth of salva- 
tion by the grace of God in Jesus Christ alone, 
of which truth the Holy Scriptures give witness 
with a normative authority, the Church only with 
conditional authority. The Christian is to attain 
an individual assurance of this truth. 

/. False or at least inadequate explanations. 
The opposition of Protestantism and Romanism has 
often been explained in a manner either totally false or 
entirely inadequate. The opposition has been made to 
result from purely external, natural and even fortuitous 
diversities, — from the ardent imagination of the South 
and the cool reflectiveness of the North. The attempt 
has also been made to reduce it to formal categories, 
such as authority, freedom, and the like. 

2. The general statement of the Antithesis. 
Schleiermacher 2 says: "Protestantism makes the 
relation of the individual to the Church dependent on 
his relation to Christ; Catholicism makes the relation 

i We cannot recommend too highly Stearns' Evidence of Christian 
Experience. New York, 1892. In a certain sense it is a reproduction 
of the famous work of Frank (System der chnst. Gewissheit). 

2 Glaubenslehre I, § 24. 



.")(> INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

of the individual to Christ to depend on his relation 
to the church." Twesten 1 says: The Catholic doctrine 
hold§ more firmly to the first. Protestantism more 
firmly to the second part of the utterance of Iremeus, 
'AYhere the Church is, there is also the Spirit of God, and 
where the Spirit of God is, there is the Church and all 
grace." Moeh/er 2 (d. 1838, Roman Catholic) says: 
"Catholic doctrine considers the visible Church as the 
pr/us, the first thing, the invisible Church as the post- 
er/us, the second thing ; the Protestant Church considers 
the invisible as the pr/us and the visible as the poster/us." 
Martensen* sa}\s: "Catholicism has developed itself into 
a great system of guarantees of Christianity; but Chris- 
tianity, the thing itself, which was thus to be guaranteed y 
has been thrown into the shade. The opposition between 
genuine and spurious Christianity has been gradually 
reduced to the affirmation and the negation of the va- 
lidity of these guarantees. To attack the infallibility of 
the Pope and of the Church is the prime heresy." 

3. The essential character of Romanism. 

The essential character of Romanism is the identify- 
ing of Christianity with that outward hierarchical 
Church which culminates in the primacy of the Bishop 
of Rome, the Church, the organism of which claims to be 
inspired, the infallible bearer and guarantee of the truth, 
— to be subject to which, therefore, isthesupremestduty 
of the Christian. 

The Chrucli is, therefore, by necessary consequence, a 
visible and palpable state, the vicar of Christ, represent- 
ing his three offices of Prophet, Priest and King, the 

1 In his Dogmatics 1. p. ~4r. 

2 See his Symbolik. ^ 48. Tenth edition, 1888. The sixth German 
edit ion ( L843) was translated into English. 2 vols. London, 1843. 
A work worthy of careful examination. 

* Compare his -Christian Dogmatics, p. :*()-( English Translation). 



THE ANTITHESIS OF ROMANISM AND PROTESTANTISM. 57 

continuation of his Incarnation, the mediatrix of salva- 
tion. It divides itself into the Church teaching and the 
Church hearing, the Church commanding and the Church 
obeying. Its essence is of a legal, not of an evangelical 
kind. It is to the individual the supremest judical and 
saving authority; obedience to it is so unconditional 
that there can be no justification or an assurance of 
faith and of the Christian conscience resting in the Word 
of God, over against this Church (Luihardt). 

So in substance also Martensen (pp. 25—30): "The 
Catholic Church holds to a living apostolate in the 
Church, perpetuating itself through all time— an inspira- 
tion constantly kept up in the representatives of the 
Church. She claims to possess in the decisions of the 
councils and of the Pope a divine utterance invested 
with apostolic authority, as infallible as the word of the 
first apostles which was spoken in the world ; and she 
claims to have in these decrees the infallible interpreta- 
tion, an infallible continuation, of that apostolic word.' y 

4. Romanism criticized. 

The antithesis of Protestantism consequently con- 
sists primarily in the results which are reached by the 
overthrow of the theory just characterized. Boniface VIII 
says: "To be subject to the Pope of Rome, we declare, 
say, and define, to be altogether necessary to salvation, 
on the part of every human creature. 7 ' Perrone, the 
most distinguished Roman Dogmatician of this century 
(d. 1876), whose system of Dogmatics is now most 
widely used in the Roman Catholic Church,' and which 
comes up most fully to its standard of orthodoxy, says: 
"Outside of or beyond the Catholic Church (i. e. the 
Roman Church) there is no salvation." 

1) Over against the identifying of the true Catholic 
or Universal Church with the Church of Rome, on which 



58 [NTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THKOLOGY. 

■all these claims to supremacy rest, together with the 
right of putting* heretics to death, Protestantism main- 
tains that the Catholic or Universal Church exists also 
outside of the Roman Church, and that the utmost she 
^an claim is that within her bounds are some members 
of that one Holy Catholic or Christian Church, which is 
the Communion of Saints, and that in it alone her mem- 
bers can find salvation. 

2) The Roman Church lays claim to Inspiration and 
Infallibility: Moehler says : ''The Church must be with- 
out error, for the believer who commits himself to her 
dare not be led astray." 

Over against this, Protestantism shows that there 
are heresies of the Bishops of Rome, which Romanists 
themselves are constrained to acknowledge. Thus, for 
example, Pope Liberius in 358 set forth an heretic creed 
and condemnation of Athanasius; Pope Honorius I (d. 
038) maintained Monotheletism, and was condemned 
by the sixth oecumenical Council held at Constantinople 
(081), as one possessed by demons, who sowed the seed 
of pernicious heresies, and he was excommunicated, and 
his successor on the papal throne confirmed the decree 
of the Council. Another great historical fact, over- 
throwing such claims, is the schism of the fifteenth cen- 
tury, rival Popes, and the conflict with the general 
Councils of that century, with the Popes, and with each 
other. The history of the Council of Trent (1545—1563), 
as narrated by Romanists themselves, especially of the 
truth-loving Sarpi 1 (d. 1623), expels all idea of such in- 
fallibility. Another great fact is the contradiction of 
doctrine within the church of Rome itself; e. g., the doc- 
i rine of the immaculate conception of the virgin Mary, 
set forth in our time as an article of faith (1854), was 

1 His work was translated into English in 1676. 



THE ANTITHESIS OF ROMANISM AND PROTESTANTISM. 59 

rejected universally at one time, and did not cease to be 
denied until its official promulgation 1 . 

3) The unreliableness of tradition has been demon- 
strated in Abelard's (d. 1142) Sic et Non, in which he 
placed side by side the downright contradictions of the 
Fathers ; the one affirming that the thing was, and the 
other, with equal earnestness, that it was not so. 

In the Church of Rome there is a manifest and direct 
contradiction between her doctrines and worship and 
the Holy Scriptures, as, e. g., in the Communion in one 
kind, which as all theologians admit, was unknown to 
the ancient Church. But besides all this, the eternal 
untruth of this theoiy, in itself, is manifest. The theory, 
that because a doctrine and an organization centre in 
a certain place (the See of Rome), they are divine, is a 
complete inversion of sound logic. It is not the place 
which can give the stamp to religion, but the religion 
which must give stamp and character to the place. 

5. The essential character of Protestantism 2 . 

So far we have been dwelling on the negative side of 
Protestantism. We will now look at it in its essence and 
positive character. It emanates from the need of salva- 
tion and the sense of that need. It does not consist sim- 
ply in a protest against human authority in matters of 
faith. The history of the origin of the name Protestant 
(1529 at the Diet of Spires) shows that it was more 
than this. Its essence supremely consists in the position 
on which that protest rests. It answers the question 
put to the sinner who yearns for salvation, answers 
with the truth, that salvation is in Christ alone, ''solus 
Christus, sola gratia" Christ the only one, grace the only 

i SeePreuss: Die rbmische L«hre von derunbefleckten Empfangniss. etc. 
Translated into English, 1867, but since recalled by the translator 
(1871), because of his becoming a Roman Catholic. 

2 Compare the Manuscript Lectures of Dr. Krauth. 



60 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

thing*. Subjectively stated, this is the doctrine of justi- 
fication by faith alone. This is the material principle of 
Protestantism, i. e. it forms the great central matter 
about which it gathers. 

The question now arises: By what principle of cogni- 
tion does Protestantism reach this principle in results? 
The answer is, on the grounds that the only secure, au- 
thentic, and, consequently, absolutely authoritative wit- 
ness in regard to this salvation of Christ, is given in the 
Scriptures and nowhere else. This is the formal principle 
of Protestantism, i. e. that which pertains to the form, 
shape, or manner, in which the matter or material prin- 
ciple is reached. 

We ask, what comes, what is the matter that comes? 
The answer is, Christ, faith, justification, is the matter. We 
ask, in what form and how it comes? The answer is, in 
revelation. When the formal principle of Protestantism 
is asserted without its material principle, it runs into 
Sectarianism, Negativism. Rationalism and Pseudo- 
pro testant heresy in general. The assertion of the formal 
principle without reaching the material principle of Pro- 
testantism, may run out into abuses which genuine 
Protestantism would consider worse than Romanism 
itself. No men assert the formal principle of Protestant- 
ism more vigorously, and indeed with the claim that 
they alone assert it consistently, than the very men who 
use the formal principle to overthrow the material, men 
who abuse the rule of faith, to undermine faith itself. 

The material principle is the end, the formal principle 
is the means, and it is the end alone which gives value 
to 1 he means. The man who so uses his Bible as to fail 
to reach its material, i. e. its faith, is worse of than if he 
never had opened the Bible, and the sincere, ignorant, 
deluded Romanist will rise up in judgment against him. 



THE ANTITHESIS OF ROMANISM AND PROTESTANTISM. 61 

When as Lutherans we call ourselves Protestants, we 
use a name which belonged exclusively to us originally, 
and it continued to be the diplomatic name of our 
€hurch till the peace of Westphalia, 1648,— and in fact, 
in European usage, is to a large extent, still confined to 
our Church. We are Protestants in the historical sense 
of the word in which it asserts not a mere negation of a 
false rule of faith, nor the mere theoretical acceptance of 
a true rule of faith, but two conjoining things, — the 
formal rule of the faith and the material faith of the rule. 
This is the Protestantism we defend over against the 
Church of Rome. This is the only Protestantism that 
can successfully be so defended, and the argument of 
Rome over against a great deal that calls itself Protes- 
tantism is as much our argument as hers 1 . On the most 
vital points, the very center of the life of Christianity, 
such as the doctrine of the Trinity, of the true Deity of 
Christ, of the Incarnation, the Atonement, the objective 
character of the two Sacraments, true Protestantism 
stands with Romanism, or rather, with the Church Uni- 
versal, over against the spurious systems which call 
themselves Protestant, but which are erroneous in 
various degrees, till they sink in their lowest grade to 
what is essentially Pagan. 

Martensen 2 says: "Inasmuch as both confessions 
(Catholic and Protestant) profess a general belief in 
God as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; inasmuch as both 
reject the ancient and modern forms of Naturalism and 
Rationalism, both recognize the truth that the Christian 
Church rests upon a Divine Word, derived from the 

i In the Canons of the Council of Trent (1545—1563), in which the 
so-called Protestant views are condemned, the Protestant doctrines 
are almost always presented in an exaggerated form, and mixed up 
with real heresies, which true Protestantism condemns as emphatically 
as the Church of Rome. 

See his Dogmatics, § 20, pp. 25, 26. 



62 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

Founder himself, and delivered to the Church through 
the apostles. For it is only through the apostles that 
Ave have received Christianity, and that- Christianity 
only is genuine, which can show itself to be apostolic. The 
difference between the confessions does not consist 
merely in the difference of the relation which they assign 
to the oral and written word of the apostles (tradition 
and Scripture), but in their different views respecting 
the scope of the apostolate. The Catholic Church holds 
to a living apostolate in the Church, perpetuating itself 
through all time, — an inspiration constantly kept up in 
the representatives of the Church.... The Evangelical 
Lutheran Church, like the Catholic, confesses that the 
Spirit of the Lord is with the Church unto the end of the 
world, leading it into all truth ; but that perfect union 
of the Spirit of God and man, which is called Inspira- 
tion, "and which constitutes the essence of the apostolate, 
it assigns exclusively to the beginning of the Church, to 
the period of its foundation ; and, although it admits 
the relative validity of tradition, it yet regards the Holy 
Scriptures of the New Testament as the only perfect, 
authentic, and absolutely canonical expression of the 
original fulness of the apostolic spirit. 

But the difference here indicated rests on another 
which lies still deeper — a difference in the conception of 
the essential character of Christianity itself. The Evan- 
gelical Lutheran Church views Christianity as a Gospel ; 
as glad tidings of the new life and the new creation in 
Christ, offered to men as a free gift of heavenly grace ; 
whereas the Catholic Church for the most part regards 
faith as a new law, and Christ as a new lawgiver, repre- 
senting the Gospel merely as an external authority to 
which the believer must yield." 

Again 1 : "It has often been said that the principle of 

i Dogmatics, § 21, pp. 30, 31. 



THE ANTITHESIS OF ROMANISM AND PROTESTANTISM. 63: 

Protestantism is that of subjectivity— & proposition 
which, expressed in this indefinite, general form, is liable 
to misconception. The aim of the Reformation was as 
much to regain objective Christianity, to separate the 
true tradition from the false or at least human tradi- 
tions, as to revive subjective, personal Christianity. 
What the Reformation desired was neither exclusively 
the objective nor the subjective; it was the free union of 
the objective and subjective, of the thing believed, and 
the person believing, of divine revelation and the religi- 
ous self-consciousness. This free union of the objective 
and the subjective the Evangelical Church claims to 
have secured through its so-called formal and material 
principles, which express the two sides, the objective 
and the subjective side, of the same truth. By the term 
formal principle, is meant the Holy Scriptures as the 
only source of doctrine; by the term material principle, 
is meant justification by faith. On a correct apprehen- 
sion of these principles, often misunderstood and often 
feebly stated, depends a correct understanding of Pro- 
testantism." 

Martensen further remarks 1 : "Where there is free- 
dom, there are also abuses of freedom. The Roman 
Church seemingly knows of no such state of disintegra- 
tion and confusion as do the Protestant Churches. The 
principle of authority throws a veil over the secret ini- 
quity, the secret unbelief and doubt, that shelter them- 
selves within the Church under the forms of external 
acquiescence. 

In the Protestant Churches, on the contrary, all 
these defects are manifest. Many members of the Pro- 
testant Churches, weary of the abuses of the principles 
of freedom, are seized with a longing for a tradition 
which shall have absolute authority. This security they 

i See § 24, pp. 48. 49. 



64 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

seek sometimes in the consensus of the first three cen- 
turies, sometimes of the first five or six centuries. 'A 
Catholic current' says Geiger (d. 1843), 'is passing 
through the world.' This Catholic current will become 
more and more noticeable, the nearer the time of the 
great religious movements and crises approaches. But 
to lay down a tradition which shall make superflous 
all internal struggles for freedom is. impossible. The 
various manifestations of sympathy with Romanism, 
exhibited of late, may be of use in awakening what in 
many has been slumbering, viz., an appreciation of the 
importance of the Church and what has been handed 
down in the Church, as the natural connecting link 
between faith and the Bible. But, whenever these sym- 
pathies has turned in antipathy to the principles and 
inmost essence of the Reformation, they lead, as various 
facts have within a few years shown, to Rome, and to a 
repose in the spurious guarantees there offered." 

In this connection Dr. Krauth remarks 1 : "If it be 
true, as Geiger says, 'that a Catholic current is passing- 
through the world,' it is no less true, that under this 
current, at the surface, there is a deep swell of Protes- 
tantism which is upheaving Romanism itself, and para- 
doxical as it may seem, we do not hesitate to state our 
conviction, that the current of Catholicism is set in mo- 
tion by the current of Protestantism. How else can we 
account for it, that just in the most thoroughly pro- 
testant of protest ant countries, England and the United 
States, the tendenc}^ shows itself most strongly, and 
next to these countries, in the most intensely protestant 
parts of Germany. Protestantism is so essentially a 
quickener, that it whips into activity its own ant agon- 
its. It is so scientific, that it teaches its enemies; it is 
so progressive that it sets even false conservatism in 

1 Sec lux Manuscript Lectures. 



THE ANTITHESIS OF ROMANISM AM) PROTESTANTISM. 65 

motion. Hence we see the anomaly, that in Italy, the 
most Romish of countries, Romanism is torpid, ig- 
norant, and so hampered with its own traditionary 
-abuses, that it is at once powerless and detested, while 
in the United States it is vigorous, decisive, aggressive 
-and prosperous. The secret of it is, that Romanism is 
compelled to be protestantized, as far as its nature 
allows, and its greatest defenders in our own times, 
have defended it with the stolen weapons of Protestant 
science, and the thing they defend is Romanism purified 
of some of its worst features by the mighty work of 
Protestant ideas. The Reformation did not carry out 
of the Church of Rome the entire reformatory tendency. 
As the Reformation was the result of tendencies which 
grew within the Church of the West, side by side with 
Papacy, so did the leaven which revealed itself in it, still 
in some measure remain in the Church of Rome. Two 
tendencies have worked without interruption within the 
Romish Church ever since. We see their struggles at the 
council of Trent, we see it in the conflicts of the Jansen- 
ists and Jesuits, we see it in Ultramontanism and its an- 
tagonistic force ; we see it in noble men who in time of 
apostasy of nominal Protestants in the great rational- 
istic defection, gave illustration of the truth that even 
in Rome God preserves his witnesses. The Church of 
Rome is destined, we believe, in the flight of ages, for 
one of two consummations. She is destined either by 
the grace of God to purge off her corruption as a body, 
and thus give historic completeness to the Reformation; 
or to see a second schism produced by her own obsti- 
nacy, which will again, as in the sixteenth century, rob 
her of her noblest children and her most °;lorious lands." 



66 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

§11. Lutheran Protestantism. 

The material principle of Lutheran Protes- 
tantism is the saving truth of Christianity as it 
lies in the fundamental doctrine of justification 
by faith alone. The formal principle is the sole- 
authority of Holy Scripture. With these is con- 
nected the historic testimony of the Church as. 
the living witness of the truth. This testimony 
is united with the material and formal principle,, 
and the resultant of the union is the individual 
Christian assurance of faith. 

The Protestantism of the Reformed or Calvin- 
istic Churches, on the other hand, has laid as its. 
fundamental doctrine, the absolute and sole pri- 
mary causality of God, and holding with the 
Lutheran Church, that Holy Scripture alone is 
normative, has yet isolated Scripture from the 
historic development of the Church (Luthardt) 

1. The distinction between Lutheran and Reformed Protes- 
tantism. 
This distinction has, in recent times, heen stated in 
manifold ways. Goebei, Nitzsch, and Heppe stated it as 
this : In Reformed Protestantism more stress is laid on 
the intellect, in Lntheranism on the emotions; in Re- 
formed Protestantism the formal principle is predomi- 
nant, and Scripture is regarded more as the exclusive- 
source of doctrine; while in Lutheranism the material 
principles rules, and the formal principle is regarded 
more as merely the norm of the doctrine which grows 
out of the analogy of faith, in consequence of which the 



LUTHERAN PROTESTANTISM. 67 

pure tradition possesses in Lutheranism a greater valid- 
ity, i. e., the tradition which involves the handing down 
of truth in the Church . 

While the Lutheran Church concedes noauthorit3 T to 
opinions which have been transmitted from generation 
to generation, it values them as witnesses of the ob- 
vious aud true seuse of God's Word. That Word is the 
sole authority, but there is always a moral weight of 
presumption, which needs to be distinctly met and 
accounted for, if its validity be denied in the general 
understanding of that Word— the impression which it 
made at the beginning and has made through all time. 
The Romish tradition, i.e., the authority outside of the 
Word, and often really opposed to it, our Church rejects: 
but exegetical tradition and the doctrines which rest 
upon it, if they bear the test of the just interpretation of 
God's Word, our Church greatly esteems ; she does not 
believe that God has forsaken his Church, that for ages 
together there has been no witness to the truth in her, 
—that would be to acknowledge that the gates of hell 
have prevailed against her. Whenever a new interpre- 
tation, opposed to one universally received, has been 
offered, our Church has regarded it as necessary for the 
discoverer or inventor of the view, not only to show 
that it is as probable theoretically as the older one, but 
that it is more probable (Krauih). 

Herzog says: ''Lutheran Protestantism is the anti- 
thesis of the Judaism of the Romish Church, which has 
imparted to her doctrine a gnosticizing tincture: the Re- 
formed Protestantism is in opposition to the Paganism 
of the Church of Rome, by which the doctrine obtained 
a Judaizing, ethical character." Schweizer says: "Re- 
formed Protestantism is the protestation against all 
deification of the creature, and is, consequently, the em- 
phasizing of the absoluteness of God and of the exclu- 



<>S INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

siveness of his will; this forms its material principle, 
with which is connected its positive normal principle, 
viz., the exclusive maintenance of Scripture as the Rule 
of faith." In a similar strain Dorner says : "The mate- 
rial principle of Zwingli is the glory of God ; his formal 
principle is the Scripture, but accepted in such a sense as 
to make the internal word independent of the external, 
and so as to deny alj creaturely causality on the part of 
the creature in salvation." Baur says : "The Reformed 
system goes from above downward, the Lutheran from 
below upward, i.e., the one begins with God and reasons 
out and down to man, the other begins with man and 
reasons up to God." On the other hand Schneckenburger 
says: "The distinction between the systems consists, 
not in the predominance of theology or anthropology, of 
the absolute idea of God or of the subjective conscious- 
ness of salvation, but in the diverse form of the con- 
sciousness of salvation itself, in consequence of which 
the Reformed theology went back to the eternal decree; 
the Lutheran Church, on the other hand, being satisfied 
with justification by faith." Stahl approximating more 
closely with the view of Schweizer, finds in the "sole 
causality," which is the notion of the Godhead, the 
controlling principle of the Reformed doctrine, and its 
character he finds in the mode of thinking, which is ad- 
verse to mysteries. "The whole Reformed Church de- 
velopment is, on the one side, determined by this im- 
pulse against mysteries, which impulse concedes no in- 
strumental distribution of grace, (an aspect derived from 
Z wingli ) ; on the other side, it is distinguished by the evan- 
gelical theocratical tendency, the glorifying of God in 
the congregation (an aspect proceeding from Calvin)". 
Martensen says: "The Swiss Reformation started pri- 
marily from the formal principle, that of the authority 
of the Scriptures; whereas the Lutheran originated more 



LUTHERAN PROTESTANTISM. 69 

especially in the material principle, in the depths of the 
Christian consciousness, in an experience of sin and re- 
demption.'' "The Lutheran Reformation manifested 

the greatest caution in regard to tradition, and observed 
the principle of rejecting nothing that could be recon- 
ciled with Scripture; whereas the Swiss Reformation in- 
troduced in many respects a direct opposition between 
the biblical and ecclesiastic, and in several particulars 
followed the principle that all ecclesiastical institutions 
sjiould be rejected unless they could be deduced from the 
letter of the Bible.".... "The Reformed Church, although 
vigorously protesting against the legal Church of Rome, 
is nevertheless infected with the legal spirit, whereas the 
germ of the fulness of the Gospel is found in Lutheran- 
ism.'' 

Luihardi says . "All these diverse definitions involve 
the common theory that the difference between the 
Churches is not merely an external one, does not turn 
merely upon different doctrines, e. g.,the doctrine of the 
Lord's Supper, but is a difference running completely 
through them, a difference in principle. An essential 
element of the difference consists in the momenta, or 
elements, of the Reformed doctrine reciprocally condi- 
tioning each other,— on the one side, the absolute causal- 
ity and sole primary causality of God, which excludes 
the means of grace in the proper sense; on the other 
side, the assurance of a condition of salvation, groun- 
ded in an inscrutable decree, an assurance reached by 
the individual's actual life as the result of the divine 
operation." 

2. The materia/ and forma/ principle of Lutheranism. 

This, according to Dorner, expressed in 1841 and in 
a somewhat different shape and in a more correct one 
in his "History of Protestant Theology" in 1867, is 



i INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

another way of expressing "the distinction between 
Christian subjectivity and Christian object! vity." "The 
Scripture presents the objective original Christianity ;" 
"the material principle is that faith in which the truth, 
set forth in Scripture, obtains a free internal existence " 
"But," says Luihardt, "the material principle is not 
the subjective assurance of salvation, or the conscious- 
ness of faith, or anything of that sort, but designates 
the actual substance of the salvation itself, a salvation 
testified of in Scripture, acknowledged by the Church, 
assured to believers in faith. The formal principle, on 
the other hand, designates the authentic witnessing of 
salvation as it has actualized itself in the historical re- 
velation, and is, consequently, the norm of every 
announcement of salvation made to the Church." 

3. The Material Principle of Lutheranism. 

The material principle of our Church is the doctrine of 
justification by faith regarded on its two sides: 1) That 
salvation or justification is in Jesus Christ, the Media- 
tor : 2) That faith is the way of salvation. This forms 
the soul of the Lutheran Confession, and may be ex- 
pressed indirectly or directly. 

1. Indirectly. It may be expressed either in the ob- 
jective or subjective form. In the indirect objective form 
the statement of the sole mediatorship or sole glory of Christ 
is made prominent. Over against the Romish doctrine, 
which lessens the glory of Christ, the Apology says 1 : "We 
are disputing concerning a great subject, concerning the 
honor of Christ, and whence good minds may seek for 

' Sec Book of Concord, or the Symbolical Books of the Evangelical 
Lutheran Church, with Historical Introduction, Notes, Appendices, 
Indices. Translated and edited by Henry E. Jacobs, D. D, 2 vols. 
Philadelphia, 1882—83. We always quote from this edition, giving 
paging of first volume. All questions from A C. (i e. Augsburg Con- 
fession), Apol. (i. e. Apology), Smal. Art. (i. e. Snialcald Articles). 
Smaller or Larger Catechism, and F. C.(i. e. Formula of Concord), are 
from t his edil ion. 



1XTHEK \\ PfiOTESTANTISM. (1 

sure and firm consolation, whether it is to be placed in 
confidence in Christ,or in our works 1 ' (p. 109, 35 ). Again: 
"The adversaries teach that men merit the remission of 
sins by love to God, prior to grace. But this also is to 
remove 'the foundation, 7 i. e. Christ'' (p. 166, 21 ). 

In the indirect subjective form the statement is, that 
faith is the only possible mode of appropriating salvation. The 
Apology says: "The promise cannot be received, unless 
by faith" (yo-92, - ); "The promise of Christ isnecessary. 
But this cannot be received except by faith" (p. 95, 70); 
"For the promise of God's mercy, reconciliation and 
love towards us, is not apprehended unless by faith" (p. 
158, 260) ; "Christ is not apprehended as a Mediator, ex- 
cept by faith. Therefore, by faith alone we obtain remission 
of sins, when we comfort our hearts with confidence in 
the mercy promised for Christ's sake" (p. 97, so). This 
faith is defined as "the special faith (by which an indi- 
vidual believes that, for Christ's sake, his sins are re- 
mitted him, and, that, for Christ's sake, God is recon- 
ciled and propitious), which obtains remission of sins 
and justifies us" (p. 91, 45). 

II. Directly. Directly the doctrine of justification by 
faith is regarded as the principle and fundamental article. 
""It is necessary that the chiefest point of all the Gospel 
should be holden fast, that we do freely obtain grace, by 
faith in Christ" (A. C. xvm, p. 65, 52); "Who does notsee 
that this article, that by faith we obtain remission of 
sins, is most true, most certain, and especially necessary 
to all Christians?" (Apol. p. 160, 211). The Smalcald 
Articles emphatically say : "Of this article nothing can 
be yielded or surrendered, even though heaven and earth 
and all things should sink to ruin And upon this ar- 
ticle all things depend, which, against the Pope, the 
devil and the whole world, we teach and practice. There- 
fore we must be sure concerning this doctrine, and not 



72 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

doubt ; for otherwise all is lost, and the Pope and devil 
and all thing's against us gain the victory and suit" 
(p. 812,.). 

Consequently all the particular doctrines are judged 
of from this, as the central point. AYe will quote a few- 
passages from the Smalcald Articles: "It (the doctrine of 
the Mass) directly and powerfully conflicts with this 
chief article" (p. 312, 313, i); "For it (the doctrine of 
purgatory) conflicts with the first article which teaches 
that only Christ, and not the works of men, can help 
souls' 5 (p. 314, 315, 12); "All of which (the granting of 
indulgences) is not to be borne, because it is without the 
word of God, and without necessity, and is not com- 
manded, but conflicts with the chief article (p. 31G, 24). 
In the Formula of Concord we find this statement : "This 
article concerning Justification by Faith is the chief in 
the entire Christian doctrine, without which no poor 
conscience has any firm consolation, or can know aright 
the riches of the grace of Christ, as Dr. Luther also has 
written : 'If only this article remain in view pure, the 
Christian Church also remains pure, and is harmonious 
and without all sects ; but if it do not remain pure, it is 
not possible to resist any error or fanatical spirit' " (/>. 
571, e). 

4. The Formal Principle of Lutheranism. 

The doctrine of the exclusive normative authority of 
the Holy Scriptures is not distinctly expressed in a dis- 
tinct article, either of the Augsburg Confession or of the 
Apology, but it is presupposed throughout and is indeed 
actually asserted incidentally in various places. In the 
Preface to the Augsburg Confession we read : "We now 
offer in the matter of Religion this Confession.... the»doc- 
brine of which is derived from the Holy Scriptures and 
the pure Word of God" (p. 34, s). In the Apology it is laid 



LUTHERAN PROTESTANTISM. 7H 

down as a thing beyond appeal that as the Scripture 
does not teach the invocation of saints, the conscience 
can have nothing- to assure of the propriety of such in- 
vocations, and the question is asked, "How do we know 
that God approves of this invocation? Whence do we 
know without the testimony of Scripture, that thesaints 
perceive the prayers of any one?" And the statement is 
made, "since the invocation does not have a testimony 
from God's Word, it cannot be affirmed that the saints 
perceive our invocation"; "there ought to be a Word of 
God" (ApoL, p. 236, n, 12;/?. 237, it). The same prin- 
ciple is distinctly asserted in the Smalcald Articles (p. 315, 
15): "It is of no consequence that articles of faith are 
framed from the works or words of Holy Fathers.".... 
"We have, moreover, another rule, viz., that the Word 
of God should frame articles of faith ; otherwise no one. 
not even an angel." 

Nowhere, however, is the formal principle more dis- 
tinct^ and clearly asserted than in the Introduction to 
the Formula of Concord (p. 491, 1) "We believe, teach and 
confess that the only rule and standard according to 
which at once all dogmas and teachers should be 
esteemed and judged are nothing else than the prophetic 
and apostolic Scriptures of the New Testament, as it is 
written (Ps. 119: 105): 'Thy Word is a lamp unto my 
feet, and light unto my path' ; and St. Paul (Gal. 1 : 8): 
'Though an angel from heaven should preach unto you 
any gospel other than that which we preached unto 
you, let him be anathema.' " At the close of this same 
Introduction (p. 492, 7) it says: "The Holy Scriptures 
alone remain the only judge, rule, and standard, accord- 
ing to which, as the only test-stone, all dogmas should 
and must be discerned and judged, as to whether they 
be good or evil, true or false." In the Formula of Con- 
cord (p. 535, 3) the Holy Scriptures are called "the pure 



(4 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

and clear fountains, which are the only true standard 
whereby to judge all teachers and doctrines." 

With reference to the relation of the "Confessions" 
themselves to Scripture, this distinct statement is made 
in the Introduction to the Formula of Concord (p. 491, 2). 
•'Other writings, of ancient and modern teachers, what- 
ever reputation they may have, should not be regarded 
as of equal authority with the Holy Scriptures, but 
should altogether be subordinated to them, and should 
not be received other or further than as witnesses, in 
what manner and at what places, since the time of the 
apostles, the purer doctrine of the prophets and apostles 
was preserved." 

5. The Historical Character of Lutheran Protestantism 1 . 

Lutheran Protestantism is pre-eminently historical. 
It approves of the connection with the traditions of the 
Church, i. e. of the visible transmission of doctrines and 
usages, so far as they are not in conflict with the letter 
or Spirit of God's Word. Pseudo-Protestantism starts 
practically with the assumption that everything in the 
visible Church, both of doctrine and of practice, is to be 
regarded as wrong, till it shall be proved by direct testi- 
mony of Scripture to be right. True Protestantism, i. 
e., Lutheran Protestantism, starts on the assumption, 
that everything in the visible Church, both of doctrine 
and of practice, is to be regarded as right, until it shall 
be proved by testimony of Scripture, or by sanctified 
reason, to be wrong. The Augsburg Confession and Apology, 
therefore, frequently present the testimony of the Church 
(tota ecclesia) together with the testimony of Scripture, 
and seek to establish the harmony of the Protestant 
doctrine with the scriptural tradition or transmission 
of the Church universal, and of the pure Roman Church 

1 Compare Manuscript Lectures of Dr. Krautli. 



LUTHERAN PROTESTANTISM. 75 

or Western division of the Universal Church. Thus in 
the Augsburg Confession, at the close of the Doctrinal Ar- 
ticles, it is said: "This is about the sum of doctrine 
#,mong us, in which can be seen that there is nothing 
which is discrepant with the Scriptures, or with the 
€hurch Catholic, or even with the Roman Church, so far 
•as that Church is known from the writings of the Fa- 
thers" (Book of Concord, p. 17, 1 ). At the close of the Ar- 
ticles on Abuses we also have this statement: "These 
things have been enumerated.... that it might be under- 
stood, that in doctrine and ceremonials among us there 
is nothing received contrary to Scripture or to the Uni- 
versal Christian Church, inasmuch as it is manifest that 
we have diligently taken heed that no new and godless 
•doctrines should creep into our Churches" (p. 67 s). 

In consonance with this it is said "the Mass is re- 
tained still among us, and celebrated with great rev- 
erence; yea, and almost all the ceremonies are in use" 
(A. C. xxiv. p. 50, 1,2). By the "Mass" is here meant 
the administration of the Lord's Supper, or the Com- 
munion Service, and by the customary "ceremonies in 
use" are meant those ceremonies which have been used 
in the Church. Whenever, over against corruption of 
predominant doctrinal practice, our Church receives the 
scriptural doctrine, she declares that in this she brings 
forth "nothing new." In the Apology it is said : For this 
reason, our preachers have diligently taught concerning 
these subjects, and have delivered nothing that is new, 
but have set forth Holy Scripture and the judgment of 
the Holy Fathers" {p. 83, so). The Catalogue of Testi- 
monies added in the best editions of our Symbolical 
Books 1 to article vm of the Formula of Concord, shows that 
the Christian Church has continually held the doctrine 
set forth in that article. 

1 See Book of Concord, (Jacobs.) Vol. 2, pp. 272—203. 



76 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

The judgment of oar Church in regard to pure trans- 
mission of tradition is of the highest importance. It is 
sustained by the scripture view of the Church. The 
Church is the pillar and ground of the truth; she is as. 
really God's work, as God's Word is, and as the defects 
of particular parts of the Church are no evidence against 
the infallibility of the Word of God, as a rule of faith, so 
also these defects are no evidence against the infallibil- 
ity of the Church of God. We maintain as inflexibly as 
the Church of Koine does, the infallibility of the Church 
Catholic, that is to say, we ho'd that there has been 
and always will be upon earth a communion of saints, 
in which the pure faith which makes the Christian foun- 
dation, abides. We hold, also, that there never has 
been a time, when in every part of the visible Church a 
man was bound in conscience to false doctrine,— that 
even in the Church of the West, the Romish Church in 
her darkest hour, — the official creeds of the Church to 
which her children were bound in conscience, set forth 
only pure truths. When Luther grasped the great truths 
out of which the Reformation arose, he found and grasp- 
ed them in the creed which had been from time imme- 
morial in the Church,— "I believe in the forgiveness of 
sins." The Reformers within the Church of Rome set 
forth no doctrine which they could not conscientiously, 
as faithful children of that Church, set forth. When we 
now take up the Confessions of the Church of Rome, we 
find, that until the Council of Trent (1545—63), which 
was not held till after the Reformation was established, 
the only creeds of the Church were the Apostles', the Nicene, 
and the Athanasian Creeds, to which our Reformers in- 
flexibly held. Tp to the time of the Reformation the 
doctrine confessed in the (ecumenical or general creeds 
was the same throughout the Church Catholic, east and 
west. The Augsburg Confession is the oldest distinctive 



LUTHERAN PROTEST ANTIflM. i i 

•creed used in any large portion of Christendom. 80 far 
as the Roman or Greek Churches have creeds older than 
the Augsburg Confession, they set forth none other than 
the doctrines we hold in common with them. Luther 
well argues, then, that we are the true old Church, be- 
cause we hold to the true old Creeds. AVhen the Augsburg 
Confession was set forth in 1530, it was an ampler state- 
ment and larger development of the same old doctrine 
of the Church. We do not contend that all its specifica- 
tions are in the older creeds any more than we pretend 
that all specifications of the Nicene Creed are in the A post - 
Jes' Creed, or that all the specifications of the Athanasian 
are in the Nicene. But the Augsburg Confession is a pure 
statement of the doctrine of the Church Catholic, in its 
legitimate development for more than fifteen hundred 
years, and is related logically to the purified Protestant- 
ism of the sixteenth century as the Apostles' and Nicene 
Creeds are related to the Catholic doctrine of the Middle 
Ages. 

6. The Internal Assurance of Salvation. 

The truths of salvation concerning justification by 
faith, such as the Holy Scriptures testify, and the pure 
Church of all ages has confessed, are sealed by the Holy 
Spirit internally in Christians, especially in that com- 
fort of conscience which the "Word of God brings with it. 

This element is made very prominent, especially in 
the Apology, where the thought is often repeated that 
"Justification by faith" brings "a sure and firm conso- 
lation to pious minds.'' In Art. iv. (On Justification) we 
read (p. 98, 85): "Wherefore let no c good minds suffer 
themselves to be forced from the opinion, that we receive 
remission of sins for Christ's sake only through faith. In 
this, they have sure and firm consolation against the 
terrors of^sin, and against eternal death, and against 



78 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOIiV. 

all the gates of hell." Again (p. 103, in, ns): "We 
have shown with sufficient fulness, both from testimon- 
ies of Scripture, and arguments derived from Scripture, 
that by faith alone, we obtain the remission of sins for 
Christ's sake, and that by faith alone we are justified . . . 
But how necessary the knowledge of this faith is, can be 
easily judged, because, in this alone, the office of Christ 
is recognized, by this alone we receive the benefits of 
Christ; this alone brings sure and firm consolation to 
pious minds. And in the Church it is necessary that 
there should be doctrine, from which the pious may re- 
ceive the sure hope of salvation." And so in many other 
places in the Apology. In the Smalcald Articles we have 
this clear testimony (p. 346, 44): "The doctrine of re- 
pentance has been utterly corrupted by the Pope and 
his adherents. For they teach that sins are remitted 
because of the worth of our works. Then they bid us 
doubt whether the remission occur. They nowhere teach 
us that sins are remitted freely for Christ's sake, and 
that by this faith we obtain remission of sins. Thus they 
obscure the glory of Christ, and deprive consciences of 
firm consolation, and abolish true divine services, viz., 
the exercises of faith struggling with unbelief and de- 
spair concerning the promise of the Gospel." 

The consciousness of this union with Christ gives as- 
surance of salvation. Luther: "By faith thou art so united 
to Christ that of thee and him there becomes as it were 
one person, so that with confidence thou canst say : I 
am Christ,— that is, Christ's righteousness and victory 
are mine ; and Christ in turn can say : I am that sinner, 
— that is, his sins and death are mine, because he clings 
to me and abides in me and I abide in him, for we have 
been united through faith into one flesh and bone/" 

Here belongs also the testimony of the Holy Spirit, 
which is an internal (personal) assurance qf salvation. 



LUTHERAN PROTESTANTISM. 7i> 

wrought iu the believer by the Holy Ghost, through the 
Word. The ground of faith is the external word of 
promise; the ground of assurance is the inward witness 
of the Spirit that we fulfil the conditions of the promise 
(Rom. 8: 16; 1 John 4: 13; 5: 10). This witness of the 
Spirit is not a new and direct revelation from God, but 
a strengttiening of previously existing faith until he who 
posesses this faith becomes certain that he possesses it. 
Faith should be distinguished not only from assurance 
but also from the feeling of joy, because true faith is 
possible without assurance of salvation ; for those who 
already believed are urged to seek for assurance (Heb. 
G: 11; "Rom. 4: 20, 21; 2 Pet, 1: 10) and are to be filled 
with joy (Rom. 15: 13; John 16: 24; Phil. 1: 25), for 
as faith increases, so assurance and joy increase. 1 

i This evidence drawn from Christian experience based upon the- 
Christian's regeneration and sanctification has gained great promi- 
nence in all modern apologetical and dogmatic discussions. Among' 
recent German theologians it has received special attention from Dor- 
ner and Frank. The presentation by Dorner in his System of Christian 
Doctrine (Vol. L, pp. 31—184) is worthy of most careful study, and 
especially valuable is his searching criticism of Frank's System der 
Christlichen Gewissheit, as well as of his System der Christlichen Wahrheit. 
two of the most profound and important works on theology produ- 
ced in the last half of this century. Dorner maintains that Frank's 
foundation of his System of Certainty is too subjective, and has to great 
a resemblance to the method of Schleiermacher. The position of Dor- 
ner may be seen from the following citation : "God must be by logical 
necessity the ultimate guarantee and source of all true certainty : it 
is not our frail condition of belief, our righteous but subjective nature, 
which is the ultimate source of our certainty of God and Christ. There- 
is an immediate knowledge of God, and not merely a secondary know- 
ledge produced by inference from effect to cause. We Christians know 
ourselves, as Paul frequently assures us (1 Cor. 8: 3; Gal. 4: 9), as- 
partakers of salvation, inasmuch as we are known of God, and we 
know ourselves as thus known. So it also happens, according to 
John, with reference to Christian certainty, that we are certain of 
something objective, of communion with Christ, of Christ for us, and 
of Christ abiding in us (1 John 3: 24; 5: 6). We are not first certain 
of God by being conscious of ourselves (as regenerate and converted): 
but experiencing and knowing God in Christ as being for us, we know 
ourselves as redeemed. The condition of the believer, and its cer- 
tainty, does not come about in this way, that we feel ourselves to be 
regenerate and children of God, but we first experience the gracious 



SO [NTRODCCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

III. THE METHOD OF DOGMATICS. 

^ 12. The Formation of the Dogmatic System. 
The Material Principle of Protestantism in 
the unity of its objective and subjective sides, 
forms the genetic principle of the unfolding of 
the Dogmatic System, and the Holy Scriptures, 
as the original record of the revelation of salva- 
tion, forms the normative argumentative proof 
for the single statements of Dogmatics. 

/. The Material Principle of Dogmatics. 
As Dogmatics is designed to be a systematic state- 
ment of the Christian Faith, it must genetically unfold 
the entire Christian Doctrine, out of a fundamental 
unity. By a genetic unfolding we mean one that pre- 
sents the process of originating the natural mode of de- 
velopment, in which, as it were, the secondary truths 
grow out of the primary. There must be some one germ, 
which grows and expands into all that follows. As such 
a genetic principle Luther designates the article of Jus- 

regard of God, who shows himself to us as our Father in Christ, and 
now we cry, 'Abba, dear Father, and know— tor this reason, that he 
has announced himself to us as a Father in the Son — ourselves to be 
his children." (System of Christian Doctrine, Vol. 1. pp. 55, 5G). 

Philippi would have us regard "the objective atonement wrought 
out by Christ, attested and offered by the Word of God, as alike the 
startening-point and the only rock on which the Evangelical Christ- 
ian bases his assurance of salvation 1 ' (V. 2. p. 58, 2nd ed.) in place of 
the subjective regeneration, — but Frank defends his position both 
against the searching criticism of Philippi and Dorner, and maintains 
that "the special moral experience which underlies the Christian cer- 
tainly, is that of regeneration and conversion, a transformation of 
(he mans moral state of life.'' (System of Christian Certainty, pp. 108— 
122.) We would in this connection recommend for careful reading 
Stearns' Evidence of Christian Certainty (New York, 1892), which, in a 
certain sense, may be regarded as an original reproduction otFrank's 
System of Christlichen Gewissheit, of which later work one volume has 
appeared in English, under the title of System of the Christian Certainty 
(Edinburgh, 1886). 



THE FORMATION OF THE DOGMATIC SYSTEM. 81 

tification by faith: "In it Ave have the sum of the whole 
Christian Doctrine and the bright and lovely sun, which 
illumines the Christian communion. If this article be 
embraced and retained with a sure and firm faith, all 
the others gradually come from it and follow it, as for 
example, the doctrine of the Trinity and others." .... 
••While this doctrine stands, the Church stands." And 
the meaning of Luther's expression that it is "the ar- 
ticle of a standing or falling church," is, that while this 
doctrine stands, the Church stands, when it falls, the 
Church falls. 

The Dogmaticians subsequent to Luther did not al- 
ways carry out this thought completely. They designate 
the Scripture as the only principle of knowledge, and the 
later Dogmaticians, who pursued the analytic method, 
regarded the idea of salvation as a controlling point of 
view, but beyond this regarded the analogy or ruleoffaiih, 
only as a material canon. 

The most recent Dogmaticians, for the most part, 
start with the i ea of fellowship with God through 
Christ (Thomasins, Hofmann), or with the idea of 
A t onem ent ( Philippi ) . 

Luthardt says : The material principle of Dogmatics 
must be the essence of Christianity itself, i.e., the fellow- 
ship with God through Christ, which is actualized in the 
righteousness of faith as a righteousness of life. This 
material principle is to be exhibited in accordance with 
its entire contents through the conjoined operation of 
the three factors of Dogmatics: 1) The Scripture; 2) 
The Doctrine of the Church ; 3) The personal consious- 
ness of faith. 

2. The Scriptures as the Normative factor of Dogmatics. 
The Holy Scriptures as the normative factor in the 
Dogmatic System imparts to it its biblical character. 
The ground of this its authority for Dogmatics lies in 



82 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

this, that Scripture is the authentic original record of 
divine revelation, and as such the Christian is certain of 
its truth. Since the time of Gerhard the Dogmaticians 
present in their Prolegomena, the complete doctrine of 
Scripture, as the only principle by which we become cog- 
nizant of heavenly truth. Inspiration forms the basis 
for the authority of Holy Scripture, which witnesses of 
itself through the testimony of the Holy Spirit, i e. the inter- 
nal actual assurance which the matter of Scripture itself 
imparts. 1 In the later Dogmaticians we have presented 

i To the Reformers the inspired Word of God was the one author- 
ity, the sole rule of faith and practice. They recognized Christianity 
as consisting not only in a revelation made long ago, but also in the 
present power of God by which the facts and truths thus revealed are 
brought to bear upon the hearts of men. To Luther the Bible is not 
a dead letter, but the Word of God which is quick trad powerful be- 
cause it is the instrument in the hands of the present, life-giving Spirit. 
Our Dogmaticians argued somewhat as follows: We receive the 
Scriptures as true because God is the author and speaks to us in and 
through them. We know that they are the Word ol God because the 
same Spirit who inspired their writers and speaks to us through their 
pages witnesses in our souls to their truth. The appeal is to the in- 
ward witness of the spirit, the testimonium Spintus Sancti internum. The 
unregenerate man does not possess this witness. His reason is dark- 
ened so that he cannot discern the divine power that is at work in 
the Scriptures. In the regenerate soul this darkness is removed by 
the illuminating influence of the Holy Spirit, so that it recognizes the 
presence of the Spirit in the Word, and knows it to be true and divine. 
Thus God himself vouches for the truth of the Scriptures. 

But this evidence of Christian Experience was not yet stated in its 
completeness, or with a distinct recognition of its far-reaching char- 
acter. The inward witness ol the Spirit is valid evidence so far as it 
goes. But there still lies something deeper. This is but a part of the 
evidence of Christian experience. The divine faith, the spiritual illu- 
mination, through which the Christian is convinced of the truth and 
divinity of the Scriptures, needs a deeper grounding. The questions 
arise: How do we know that this is the work of the Spirit? How do 
Ave know that the Holy Spirit acts upon our souls at all? How do 
we know that Christianity is a present divine power? The answer is : 
The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are child- 
ren of God (Rom. 8: 16); in other words, the evidence of the reality 
and truth of Christianity and of the divine record of salvation given 
in the Bible, has for its root the evidence that the believer is <a child 
of God. The witness of the Spirit to the believer's sonship and the 
witness of the Spirit to the divinity and truth of the Scriptures are at 
the root one, two parts of that one powerful influence of tliQ. Spirit 



THE FORMATION OF THE DOGMATIC SYSTEM. 83 

in place of the testimony of the Holy Spirit, the credibi- 
lity of the authors. In this Avay all attacks upon the 
Bible become in their actual working, attacks upon re- 
ligion itself. 

Lessing appealed to the self assurance of Christian 
experience. Schleiermacher, in his views, follows 
Lessing, inasmuch as he makes a primary point of the 
Christian's internal consciousness, and consequently 
does not treat the doctrine of Scripture in his Prolego- 
mena, but in the body of his work, in which he says 
(Glbsl. § 128): "The authority of the Holy Scriptures 
cannot be the basis of faith in Christ ; on the contrary, 
this faith must previously exist before we can concede 
to the Holy Scriptures a special authority." Twestex 
says (I, 283): "It should not be maintained that in the 
Christian consciousness, faith in the Holy Scriptures is 
that foundation which is fixed in itself as the founda- 
tion of all other convictions,— since faith in the Holy 
Scriptures is rather only one constituent of the Christ- 
ian conviction, which is to be apprehended only by 
faith, and just as much requires to be stayed and sup- 
ported by the other doctrines, as they require to be 
stayed and supported by it." 

A system of Dogmatics assumes Scripture and its 
authority as a matter of fact, (just as it takes the 
Church and her doctrines), to justify both within its 
system, as it does the other facts of faith. 

3. The Canon of Scripture. 

The body of the sacred writings is comprehended in 

the Canon, and hence they are called "the Canonical 

Scriptures." The word kanon in classical Greak meant 

1) properly a straight rod, or a carpenter's rule; 2) then 

upon the believer's soul which is the great present proof of the reality 
of Christianity. Alter Stearns's Evidence of Christian Experience, pp. 

386—389). 



84 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

a testing rule in ethics, or in art, or language. The eccle- 
siastical usage of the word offers a complete parallel 
to the classical. In the New Testament it occurs four 
times (Gal. 6: 1G. 2 Cor. 10: 13—16). In the first pas- 
sage (Gal. 6: 1G) it is used in its literal sense of rule, and 
in the second passage the change from an active to a 
passive sense is worthy of notice. In patristic writings 
the word is commonly used both as "a rule" in the 
widest sense, and especially in the phrases "the rule of 
the Church," "the rule of faith," "the rule of truth." In 
the fourth century, when the practice of the Church 
was systematized, the decisions of synods were styled 
"Canons." As applied to Scripture the derivatives of 
the word Canon are used long before the simple word. 
The first direct application of the term kanon to the 
Scriptures seems to be by Amphilochius, bishop of Ico- 
nium, a contemporary of Gregory of Nazianzus, who 
concludes his well-known Catalogue of the Scriptures 
(about 380 a. d.), with the words, "this will be the 
most truthful Canon of the inspired Scriptures." Among 
Latin writers the word is commonly found from the 
time of Jerome 1 . 

a) The Old Testament Canon 2 . The formation of the 
Old Testament Canon was a matter of internal neces- 
sity when the Old Testament time of Kevelation came 

i For a fuller discussion of the use of the word Canon see West- 
cott's Article on the Canon in Smith's Bible Diet. (Amer. Ed., 4 vols.). 
The same author in his work On the Canon of the New Testament (Fifth 
Ed., 1881), in Appendix I), (pp. q56, 557) gives the original text of 
the Catalogue of Amphilochius. 

2 Compare Westcott's Art. on Canon in Smith's Bible Diet, already 
cited (Vol. I, pp. 857— 368), a most valuable summary of the whole 
subject: also the article in Herzog's Real-Encykl. (Ed. I, by Oehler; 
Ed. II, by Strack): see also Schaff-Herzog's Encycl., Vol. I, pp. 385— 
389, and the well-known works of Bleek, Home (Fourteenth Ed.) 
and Keil. Very suggestive, but less conservative are the works of 
Driver (Introduction 'to the Literature of the Old Testament. 1891), Ryle 
(Canon of the Old Testament, 1892), and Kirkpatrick (Divine Library of 
the Old Testament, 1891). 



THE FORMATION OF THE DOGMATIC SYSTEM. 85 

to an end. According to the Rabbinical tradition it 
was the work of Ezra and the great Synagogue. It 
first appears as a finished whole in the prologue to the 
Greek translation of the wisdom of Sirach (Ecclesias- 
ticus), the date of which is somewhat doubtful, but cer- 
tainly lies between 250—130 b. c. Not only does the 
prologue expressly refer to the Old Testament according 
to its three divisions, "the law and the prophets, and 
the other books of our fathers," "the rest of the books," 
but also in the book itself it is manifestly assumed as a 
thing well known. The definite article, u the other books 
of the fathers," and "the rest of the books/' presupposes a 
definite class of writings well marked off, and involves 
the close of the Canon. 

The Canon of the Old Testament lay in its present 
compass before our Lord and his Apostles, just as we 
have the enumeration of its parts in Josephus (40—100 
A. d.). In his book Contra Apion, I, 8, he enumerates 
twenty -two books "which are justly believed to be in- 
spired." And he adds: "They have suffered no addi- 
tion, diminution, or change. From our infancy we learn 
to regard them as decrees of God; we observe them, and 
if need be, we gladly die for them." 

In the New Testament, these Old Testament writings 
are regarded as one complete whole as in John 5: 39, 
"Search the Scriptures," or in John 10: 35, "The Scripture 
cannot be broken." Matt. 23: 35 and Luke 11: 51 {"from 
the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zachariah" i.e., from 
Genesis to 2 Chronicles) are» a witness to the arrange- 
ment and compass of our present Hebrew Bible ; Luke 
24: 44 is evidence of the division into three parts, "the 
law," "the prophets," and "the psalms;" 2 Tim. 3: 15, 
16 looks to the fact that the Scriptures were collected 
together. In the New Testament, with the exception of 
some of the Minor Prophets, all the books of the "first" 



86 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

and "second" division are cited. From the third divi- 
sion, Psalms, Proverbs, and Daniel are cited. The Old 
Testament Apocrj^phal Books are never cited in the 
New Testament, and if there be allusions to them, 
as there probably are, they are of such a nature as 
in no degree to imply a recognition of them as 
inspired books. Thus in Heb. 11: 34, 35 it has been 
claimed 1 that there is an allusion to the times of the 
Maccabees; but, if this be granted, it simply, at the 
most, recognizes the historical truth of a statement, and 
involves no more than St. Paul's quotations of the 
Greek poets. From a careful study of all the evidence 
there can be no reasonable doubt that at the beginning 
of the Christian era the Jews had a Canon of Sacred 
Writings distinctly denned, and that this Canon was the 
same as we now have in our Hebrew Bibles, and accept- 
ed by all Protestant Churches as the Canonical Books 
of the Old Testament. 

The authority of Augustine occasioned the reception 
of the Old Testament Apocrypha into the Canon, by the 
Council of Hippo, 393, and of Carthage, 397, but there 
was no churchly sanction of a general kind to this, until 
the Council of Trent, in its fourth session, gave it its 
sanction. But the establishment of the Old Testament 
Canon properly belongs to Israel, not to the Christian 
Church, which received it from Israel. We find the true 
view of the matter therefore in Jerome, who limits the 
Canon to the Hebrew writings, as these alone were ac- 
cepted and appealed to by @ur Lord and his Apostles. 

The more recent critics have attempted to put the 
book of Daniel into the time of Antiochus Epiphanes 
(175—164 B. a), an era which had lost the conscious- 
ness of possessing the spirit of revelation (1 Mace. 4: 

i See Stier's Die Apokryphen, pp. 148, 1853, who professes to find 
102 references in the New Testament to the Apocryphal Books of the 
Old Testament. 



THE FORMATION OF THE DOGMATIC SYSTEM. 8 I 

46; 9: 27; 14: 41). But that the Book of Daniel forms 
an integral part of the Canon is clear, 1) from the im- 
portance of its relation to the New Testament, in which 
it is fully accepted as canonical (Matt. 24: 15); 2) from 
its wonderful internal witness, its prophecies, many of 
which were demonstrably fulBlled long after the period 
of Antiochus Epiphanes, and many of which are now 
fulfilling; 3) from the evidences which many of the besb 
ripest recent scholars, in conjunction with the older 
ones, have brought to show that there is no reason for 
departing from the ancient and received view as to the 
time of its origin; 4) the latest results of Assyriology 
and the evidence of the monumental remains, all con- 
firm those statements of Daniel which were denied by 

critics. 

b) The New Testament Canon 1 . The collection of the 

New Testament Canon was relatively late in its origin, 
and slow in its progress. The history of its formation 
conveniently divides itself into three periods: 1. The era 
of the separate circulation and gradual collection of 
the Apostolic writings, to 170 a. d. (There can be no 
doubt whatever that at the close of this period the four 
Gospels occupied the position which they have always 
retained as the fourfold Apostolic record of the Saviour s 
ministry. The testimony of Justin Martyr {d. 146?) and 
of Papias (ab. 150) is decisive. For the New Testament 
as a whole we have, in the West, the important testi- 
mony of the Muratorian Canon, and in the East, the 
Peshito. From a careful sifting of all the evidence it 
seems that at the close of the second century, 2 Peter is 
i Compare Westcott's Article in Smith's Bible D«ct. (Amer. Ed. 4 
vols.), vol. I, pp. 368—376; the Article in Herzog's Real-Encykl. (Ed. 
I, Landerer; Ed. II, by Wold. Schmidt); the latest introductions by 
Bleek, Reuss, Weiss, Holtzmann, etc. See also Charteris' Canonicity : 
a collection of early testimonies to the Canonical Books of the New 
Testament, based on Kirchhofer s Quellensammlung, Edinburgh, 1881. 
The standard work on this subject in English is Westcott's On the 
Canon of the New Testament. Fifth Edition. London. 1881. 



88 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

the only book which is not recognized definitely as an 
Apostolic and authoritative writing). 2) The period 
marking the separation of the books of the New Testa- 
ment from the remaining Ecclesiastical literature (170 
a. d.— 303 A. d., to the persecution of Diocletian). Dur- 
ing this period the books common to the Muratorian 
or Roman Canon and the Peshito or Syrian Canon were 
regarded as a whole, authoritative and inspired, and 
were used as of equal value with the Old Testament. 
This can be proved by the testimony of contemporary 
Fathers of the Churches of Asia Minor, Alexandria, and 
North Africa. Of this testimony Westcott says 1 : "This 
comprehensive testimony extends to the four Gospels, 
the Acts, 1 Peter, 1 John, 13 Epistles of St. Paul and 
the Apocalypse; and with the exception of the Apo- 
calypse, no one of these books was ever afterwards re- 
jected or questioned till modern times." (With reference 
to the "antilegomena" or "disputed" books it may be 
said, that the Apocalypse was universally received by all 
the writers of the period, with the single exception of 
Dionysius of Alexandria : that the Episile to the Hebrews 
was accepted by the Churches of Alexandria, and Syria, 
but not by those of Africa and Rome; that the Epistles 
of James and Jude were little used ; and that 2 Peter was 
barely known. But our whole testimony is but the 
evidence of use and not of inquiry). 3. The third period 
ends with the third council of Carthage (397), in which 
a catalogue of the books of Scripture was formally 
ratified by the action of the Council (393—397 a. d.). 
(Of great importance is the testimony of Eusebius (//. £. 
in, 25), because he gives us a fair summary of the results 
which follow from a careful examination of the extant 
Ante-Nicene literature. 2 

Luther at one time (previous to 1525), expressed 

i Article on Canon in Smith's Bibl. Diet. Vol. I, p 370. b 
2 See A Comprehensive General Index to the Ante-Xicene Fathers. 
By Bernbard Pick. Buffalo, 1887. 



THE FORMATION OF THE DOGMATIC SYSTEM. 89 

doubts in regard to the Epistle to the Hebrews, James, 
and the Apocalypse. He found doctrinal difficulties iu 
Heb. 6: 4—6; 12: 17 ; and his objection to the Epistle 
of James was based upon the seeming contradiction of 
that Epistle to Paul's doctrine of justification by faith. 
But the real harmony between Paul and James is now 
universally conceded. Both teach really that we are 
justified by faith ; but St. James to meet a specific per- 
version which had ignorantly or wickedly been made of 
that doctrine, shows that the faith which justifies is 
the one which also works out righteousness. We are 
justified by faith, and faith is demonstrated before the 
eyes of men to be a just and true faith, by Avorks. 
Luther continued to regard the Apocalypse, because of 
its prophetic shape and consequently obscurity, of less 
value, than the other books of the Canon. 

Chemnitz, by his admirable historical investigation 
established in the conviction of the Church,the thorough 
canonicity of all these books. Gerhard limits the ques- 
tion to the author of the books, and turns the dog- 
matic question into an historical one. In Quenstedt 
the whole matter is reduced to little more than an 
historical notice. Hollaz says: "We judge of the canon- 
ical authority of Scripture with reference to its doctrines, 
by the same proofs and arguments by which we decide 
in regard to its divine origin It is proved by ex- 
ternal and internal criteria, but especially by the inter- 
nal testimony of the Holy Spirit illuminating the minds 
of men, through the Scriptures attentively read or heard 
from the mouth of a teacher. ... It is indeed distinctly 
proved by the testimony of the primitive Church, but 
not by this alone. . . . We add to the testimony of the 
primitive Church, the testimony of Scripture, its con- 
tinued preservation for the profitable use of men, and 
the character of its style." 



00 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

Chemnitz says: The Scriptures derive canonical 
authority 1) mainly from the Holy Spirit, by whose im- 
pulse and inspiration they were written; 2) from the 
writers themselves, to whom God gave clear and pecu- 
liar proofs of their truth, and 3) from the primitive 
Church, as a witness, in whose day these writings were 
published and approved 1 . 

The disposition of our later theologians has been to 
decide the canonicity of the books not so much from the 
transient hesitation of the early Church, nor from the 
theory of different degrees of inspiration, as from their 
internal character and contents. 

The historical character of Scripture determines its 
application in the service of Dogmatics. The doctrinal 
contents of the particular biblical books always stand 
in connection with the historical matter which pertains 
to these books. The citation of the Old Testament by 
older dogmaticians rests upon the supposition that 
there is an essential unity in the matter of Scripture. In 
modern Dogmatics the Old Testament proof passages 
are adduced with far greater caution, and their force is 
considered as modified by the point of history at which 
they occur. It is felt that as Revelation grows in the 
intensity of its brightness, it is necessary to avoid bring- 
ing a mode of conception which belongs to the relative 
twilight, into the purer and fuller light of the New Tes- 
tament. 

4. The Interpretation of Scripture. 
The biblical interpreter must not only possess certain 
intellectual and moral qualifications, but his first quali- 
fication must be a living faith, and in all his attempts 
to expound Scripture he must be guided by the central 
truth of all Revelation, salvation in Christ, which is the 

i The quotations from Chemnitz, Gerhard, Quenstedt, anr j Hollaz 
have been condensed from Schmid. 



THE FORMATION OF THE DOGMATIC SYSTEM. 91 

very essence of Christianity and the material principle 
of Dogmatics. Moreover in the setting forth of the doc- 
trines of the Bible he mast recognize the general develop- 
ment which Kevelation passes through in Scripture 
itself. And though the Church doctrine may be of great 
service in the interpretation of the Scriptures, still his 
guide must be Scripture itself as his only norm. 

The doctrine of the Sacred Scriptures, of Inspiration,, 
and of the attributes of the Sacred Scriptures, will be 
presented in the dogmatic system itself. But in speak- 
ing of the interpretation of Scripture we must also speak 
of its perspicuity. 

By the perspicuity of Scripture we mean that Script- 
ure sets forth all things necessary for faith, holiness, and 
salvation in such clear terms, that an earnest, unpre- 
judiced mind may easily understand them. Its mysteries 
are in the nature of the things, not in the obscurity of its 
phrases. It is its own interpreter in all things needful. 

The clearness of Scripture is two-fold . 

Luther says: "One kind of clearness is externa/, 
lying in the ministry of the Word, the other in the 
knowledge of the heart. If you speak of the interna/ 
clearness, no man understands a single iota in the 
Scriptures by the natural powers of his own mind, un- 
less he have the Spirit of God ; all have obscure hearts. 
The Holy Spirit is required for the understanding of the 
whole of Scripture and of all its parts. If you allude to 
the externa/ clearness, there is nothing left obscure and 
ambiguous, but all things brought to light by the Word 
are perfectly clear." Again: "The things of God are 
obscure ; the things of Scripture are perspicuous. The 
doctrines in themselves are obscure ; but in so far as 
they are presented in Scripture they are manifest, if we 
are willing to be content with that knowledge which 
God communicates in the Scriptures to the Church." 



92 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

The Lutheran Church has always laid the greatest 
stress upon the Analogy of faith as an inspired means of 
interpretation. 

Quenstedt: "Obscure passages, which need explana- 
tion, can and should be explained by other passages 
that are more clear, and thus the Scripture itself fur- 
nishes an interpretation of obscure expressions 

From no other source than the Sacred Scriptures them- 
selves can a certain and infallible interpretation of 
Scripture be drawn. For Scripture itself, or rather the 
Holy Spirit speaking in Scripture or through it, is the 
legitimate and independent interpreter of itself." 1 

(jekhard. "All interpretation of Scripture should be 

according to the analogy of faith This signifies that 

the interpretation of Scripture should be instituted and 
carried on in such a manner as to accord with the usual 
line of thought which is conveyed in Scripture concern- 
ing each leading doctrine. For, since all Scripture was 
given by the immediate suggestion of the Holy Spirit, 
and is inspired, all things in it are harmonious and 
perfectly consistent with each other, so that no dis- 
crepancy or self-contradiction occurs in it. . . . Nothing 
is ever to be broached in the interpretation of Scripture 
that conflicts with the rule of faith ; and hence, if we be 
not exactly able at all times to ascertain the exact sense 
of any passage, as designed by the Holy Spirit, we should 
nevertheless beware of proposing anything that is con- 
trary to the analogy of faith. 

The Lutheran Church has also always opposed the 
theory of a multiple sense in Scripture. There is no founda- 
tion whatever for the position, held by some, that each 
passage, or certain passages, can be understood in dif- 
ferent ways,all equally conformed to the divine thought. 

1 The quotations from our Dogmaticians are condensed from 
Schmid. 



THE FORMATION OF THE DOGMATIC SYSTEM. 93 

Xo wonder, with such views, that the Bible becomes a 
changeable, doubtful rule of faith, flexible at the will of 
the fancies or passions of men, or fluctuating with the 
tendencies of the times. If we would grant such a mul- 
tiple or double sense in Scripture, then, indeed, the pro- 
blem of interpretation would become indeterminate, the 
Bible would become a field for the display of the wit and 
vanity of the theologian, instead of being the simple, 
clear, and edifying guide to salvation which it professes 
to be. 

Gerhard: "There is but one proper and true sense 
of each passage, which the Holy Spirit thereby intends, 
and which is drawn from the proper signification of the 
words, and only from this literal sense available argu- 
ments may be derived. . . . All interpretation of Script- 
ure should be literal, and there should be no departure 
from the letter in matters of faith, unless the Scriptures 
themselves indicate the figurativeness and explain it.'' 
Again: "Allegories, tropes, analogies, are not different 
senses, but different adaptations of the same sense and 
subject designated by the letter." ■ 

This does not prevent the applications of the literal 
sense of a passage in a spiritual way. The literal sense of 
Scripture may be used as an allegory, a type, or a parable. 

Calovius: "It is called the allegorical sense, when a 
Scriptural historical narrative of things, that really 
occurred, is applied to a certain mystery or spiritual 
doctrine, by the intention of the Holy Spirit, in an alle- 
gorical manner ; it is called typical, when under external 
facts or prophetic visions, things hidden, either present 
or future, are prefigured, or especially matters relating 
to the New Testament are shadowed forth; and para- 
bolical, when something is described as having really 
occured, and yet applied to designate something spirit- 
ual." 



94 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

Gerhard 1 states the principles that underlie all true 
interpretation of the Sacred Scriptures as follows : 

1) Our mind is blind without the light of the Holy 
Spirit ; 

2) In addition to this natural blindness, some are 
blinded by singular wickedness and an unyielding hard- 
ness of heart ; but neither of these kinds of blindness, 
makes or proves the Scriptures obscure ; 

3) Because our mind is blind we must pray for the 
light of the Holy Spirit ; 

4) Our mind is not now immediately illuminated by 
the Holy Spirit, but by means of the Word heard and 
meditated upon; 

5) The doctrines necessary to be known by every 
one for salvation are taught in Scripture in clear and 
perspicuous language ; 

G) The remaining passages of Scripture receive light 
from these important doctrines ; 

7) From the clear passages of Scripture a rule of faith 
is deduced to which the exposition of the more difficult 
passages must be conformed ; 

8) If we cannot definitely and exactly ascertain the 
precise meaning of all difficult passages, it is sufficient 
that we do not propose any interpretation contrary to 
the analogy of faith ; 

9) But the more obscure passages may be rightly 
and accurately interpreted, if we apply the means cal- 
culated to remove the difficulties ; 

10) To find out these means, we must seek the causes 
of the obscurity ; 

11) Some passages are obscure in themselves, others, 
when compared with other pasages; if they merely 

i The quotations from our older Dogmaticians are condensed 
from Schmid's Doctrinal Theology. 



THE CHURCH DOCTRINE. 95 

seem to be in conflict with other passages, this obscur- 
ity may be removed by reconciling the passages ; 

12) Those passages that are obscure in themselves, 
are so, either as to their subject-matter or as to their 
words. The obscurity in regard to the subject-matter 
is removed by the analogy of faith, and by those settled 
axioms in individual articles of belief, which are to be 
regarded as the unfailing guide ; 

13) The obscurity in regard to the words is removed 

a) by the grammatical analysis of sentences, 

b) by the rhetorical exposition of tropes and figures, 

c) by the logical consideration of the order and the 
circumstances, 

d) by an acquaintance with physical science, 

e) but the greatest assistance is afforded by a pru- 
dent and diligent collation of Scripture passages. 

§ 13. The Church Doctrine and the Subjective Conscious- 
ness of Faith. 

A system of Dogmatics must have a churchly 
as well as a biblical character. Its harmony 
with the doctrine of the Church should not, how- 
ever, be a mere external one, but one produced 
through the fellowship of the faith which the 
dogmatician himself has with the doctrine of the 
Church, and which he seeks to express in his dog- 
matic system. 

/. The Churchly Character of Dogmatics. 

The faith and doctrinal thinking of the present is 
conditioned by the intellectual labors and the develop- 
ment of Church doctrine in the past, and must conse- 
quently assure itself of its essential harmony with the 



96 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

past; for there are no absolute breaks in human knowl- 
edge. Truth may be obscured but not. annihilated, and 
the sciences which seem least historical are nevertheless 
historical. 

The man who takes up the Bible now without refer- 
ence to what has been done toward its elucidation in 
the past, and without being guided by the development 
of doctrine is exactly as foolish as the man who would 
undertake to take up any branch of science without re- 
gard to what has been done before. 

Great connecting links in the continuing develop- 
ment of the Church doctrine are furnished by the Con- 
fessions, which, as they were occasioned by the historical 
necessity of their times, and conditioned by those con- 
nections as to the mode in which they present doctrine, 
are to be interpreted and vindicated by their history. 

Martensen: 1 U A dogmatic treatise claiming to be 
biblical, but not churchly, would from that very fact 
not be biblical, since the Bible itself points to a 
confessing Church, which is to perpetuate itself through 
all ages." 

2. The Confessions of the Church. 

Krauth: Faith makes men Christians, but confess- 
ion alone marks them as Christians. The Rule of Faith 
(the Bible) is God's voice to us ; Faith is the hearing of 
that voice, and the Confession is our reply of assent to 
it. By our faith we are known to the Lord as his, 
by our Confession we are known to each other as his 
children. As the creed is not, and cannot be the Rule 
of Faith, but is its confession merely, so the Bible, be- 
cause it is the Rule of Faith, is of necessity not its Con- 
fession The man who has true faith desires to 

have it known, and is bound to confess his faith 

i Christian Dogmatics, § 28. 



THE CHURCH DOCTRINE. 97 

Fidelity to the Rule of Faith, fidelity to the faith the 
Bible teaches, demands that there shall be a Confession 
of the faith. 1 

1) The necessity of Confessions. Confessions are necess- 
ary for two reasons : to establish the unity of the faith, 
and to ward off error. This necessity is both psycholog- 
ical and historical. It is not an absolute necessity, but 
what may be called one "of expediency." For by her 
confessions a Church gives evidence of the faith she 
teaches and shows in what she differs from other 
Churches, and also bears continual testimony against 
those who would introduce error. 

On the necessity of Confessions the The FormulaofCon- 
oord 2 expresses itself very clearly: "Because directly 
after the times of the Apostles, and even in their lives, 
false teachers and heretics arose, and against them, in 
the Early Church, symbols, i. e. brief, plain confessions, 
were composed, which were regarded as the unanimous, 
universal Christian faith, and confession of the ortho- 
dox and true Church, namely the Apostles' Creed, the Ni- 
cene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed; we confess them as 
binding upon us, and hereby reject all heresies and 
dogmas which, contrary to them, have been introduced 
into the Church of God." 

2) The authority of the Confessions.* The authority of 
the Confessions is internal and external. Their internal 
-authority consists in their conformity with Scripture. 
"Just as men are in duty bound to believe the Scriptures, 
when their divine origin is known, so are they bound to 
believe and accept the Confessions when their conformity 
with the Holy Scripture is seen. Their external authority 
consists in their approval by the Church. With respect 

i See Conservative Reformation, pp. 166, 167. 

2 Epitome, Introd. II. 

3 See Jacobs* Hist. Introd. to Book of Concord, Vol. 2, p. 12. 



98 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

to the inner authority, a distinction is to be drawn be- 
tween the doctrines set forth as the faith of the Church, 
the refutations of errors and prescribed formulas of ex- 
pression, on the one hand, and on the other the argu- 
ments and illustrations employed for their support. An 
error in the latter does not invalidate the former. When 
the doctrinal statements supported are found to be 
scriptural, then the Confessions can be consistently sub- 
scribed, even though defects in the argument, or inapt- 
ness in the illustrations, or mistakes in citation of 
authorities, may be noticed." 

With reference to the Confessions of our own Evan- 
gelical Lutheran Church the Formula of Concord 1 says: "As 
to the schism in matters of faith which has occurred in 
our time, we regard the unanimous consensus and de- 
claration of our Christian faith and confession, especially 
against the Papacy and its false worship, idolatry, su- 
perstition, and against other sects, as the Symbol of our 
time, viz., The First Unaltered Augsburg Confession delivered 
to the Emperor Charles V. at Augsburg in the year 1530, 
in the great Diet, together with the Apology, and the Ar- 
ticles, composed at Smalcald in the year 1537, and sub- 
scribed by the chief theologians of that time. And be- 
cause such matters pertain also to the laity and the 
salvation of their souls, we confession ally acknowledge 
the Small and Large Catechisms of Dr. Luther, as they are 
included in Luther's works, as the Bible of the laity, 
wherein everything is comprised which is treated at- 
greater length in Holy Scripture, and is necessary that 
a Christian man know for his salvation. " 

"In accordance with this direction, as above an- 
nounced, all doctrines should be adjusted, and that 
which is contrary thereto should be rejected and con- 
demned, as opposed to the unanimous declaration of 
our faith." 

i Epit., Introd. III. -4—8, p. 492 (Jacobs). 



THE CHURCH DOCTRINE. 99 

"In this way the distinction between the Holy Script- 
ures of the Old and of the New Testament and all other 
writings is preserved, and the Holy Scriptures alone re- 
main the only judge, rule, and standard, according to 
which, as the only test-stone, all dogmas should and 
must be discerned and judged, as to whether they be 
good or evil, right or wrong." 

"But the other Symbols and writings cited are not 
judges, as the Holy Scriptures, but only a witness and 
declaration of the faith, as to how at any time the Holy 
Scriptures have been understood and explained in the 
articles in controversy in the Church of God, by those 
who then lived, and by what arguments the dogmas 
conflicting with the Holy Scriptures were rejected and 
condemned." 

Our Confessions, however, are regarded as decisive 
statements for that which is valid in the Church. Thus 
the Solid Declaration, the second part of the Formula of 
Concord, says (Book of Concord, vol. 1, p. 537, 10) : "By 
what has thus far been said concerning the summary of 
our Christian doctrine we have only meant that wehaye 
a unanimously received, definite, common form of doc- 
trine, which our Evangelical churches together and in 
common confess; from and according to which, because 
it has been derived from God's Word, all other writings 
should be judged and adjusted as to how far they are to 
be approved and accepted." 

From the statement of the Formula of Concord that 
creeds "are not judges, as are the Holy Scriptures, but 
only a witness and declaration of the faith" (p. 492, s), 
the inference has been drawn that we can set them aside 
at pleasure, and still be consistent Lutherans. On this 
point Dr. Krauth says 1 : "The setting aside of a creed 
either involves setting aside its doctrines; or it does not. 

i See his Manuscript Lectures. 



100 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

If the doctrines of a creed are ever true, they are always 
true, and hence we cannot set aside the doctrines of a 
true creed without setting aside the truth itself. If it be 
said, we are going to set aside the creed, while we retain 
its doctrines, we can only justify ourselves in this by 
showing that we can make a gain for the truth by a 
new statement of it. A new creed must either embrace 
the same as the old, or something conflicting with the 
old, or something less than the old, or something more 
than the old. A creed to embrace the same, is confessed- 
ly no gain as to the matter. A new creed can only con- 
flict with a true old one, by conflicting with the truth 
itself. A creed which has less than a true one, has less 
truth than the old, and if we need the creed to say more 
than the old, all experience has shown that it is best to 
let the old stand and supplement it with the new. Our 
Church has never prepared a new creed to take the place 
of an old one. If the definition of our creeds, given in 
the Formula of Concord, stands, then the creeds themselves 
must stand, until other creeds more happily stating the 
same doctrines, shall be produced. But without excep- 
tion, the men who wish new creeds to take the place of 
old ones, really wish to have new doctrines to take the 
place of the old." 

3) Meaning of Subscription to tho Confessions. Subscrip- 
tions to the Confessions are classified as quia and quate- 
nus, i. e. "because they agree with Scripture," and "so 
far as they agree with the Scripture." The latter mode 
is an evasion, because men holding the most diverse 
views of doctrine might then subscribe our Confessions. 1 
Fidelity to the Confessions is not inconsistent with the 
right of private judgement. All we ask is, that if a man's 
private judgment of the Word of God does not make 
him believe the Lutheran doctrine as witnessed by our 
i See Jacobs* Book of Concord, voi. 2, p. 13. 



THE CHURCH DOCTRINE. 101 

Church in her Confessions, he should not pretend to be 
a Lutheran, he should not apply for ordination in order 
to minister at her altars, and if, as a minister of the 
Church he have abandoned the faith of the Church, he 
has no right to use her name as his shelter in undermin- 
ing the faith of those to whom he ministers. It is not 
enough if such a one maintains that the view he holds 
is clear to his private judgment. He has no right to 
enter or remain in any Christian Church, except as its 
terms of membership give him that right. 

Krauth 1 : ''When we confess, that, in the exercise of 
our right of private judgment, our Bible has made us 
Lutherans, we neither pretend to claim that other men 
shall be made Lutherans by force, nor that their private 
judgment shall, or will, of necessity, reach the results of 
ours. We only contend, that, if their private judgment 
of the Bible does not make them Lutherans, they shall 
not pretend that it does. We do not say, that any man 
shall believe that the Confession of our Church is Script- 
ural. We only contend, that he should neither say nor 

seem to say so, if he does not believe it Those who 

imagine that the right of private judgment is the right 
of men, within the Lutheran Church, and bearing her 
hallowed name, to teach what they please in the face of 
her testimony, know not the nature of the right they 
claim, nor of the Church, whose very life involves her re- 
fusal to have fellowship with them in their error. It is 
not the right of private judgment which makes or marks 

a man Lutheran It is the judgment he reaches in 

exercising that right which determines what he is?" 

In these days of laxity of doctrine and protest 
against Confessionalism it is well to consider the pointed 
statements of Dr. Plitt 2 : "It is as impossible for the 

i Conservative Reformation, pp. 171—175. 

2 In his Einleitunq in die Augustana, vol. I, pp. 3 — 16. 2 vols. Er- 
lauo-en 1867— 08. We condense from the translation given by Dr. 
Jacobs in Book of Concord, vol. 2, pp. 313—321. 



102 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

Church to be without a Confession as without preach- 
ing and divine service; and sooner or later the summons 
must come to the entire Church or an individual part of 
it to give to its Confessions not only a clear, but also an 
established and definite expression.... It is the facts of 
her experience of salvation which the Church, so far as 
she has become acquainted with them, brings into ex- 
pression The knowledge of these manifold facts is 

only very gradually attained The particular agents 

of this work of attaining knowledge are persons stand- 
ing in the faith of the Church and constrained by God's 
Spirit, as God generally effects all progress in Church 
history, through persons filled with the Spirit More- 
over, since the Church is no longer at the beginning of 
her development and of her activity in the framing 
of dogmas, these agents will enter into close connection 
with the past of the Church, and, appropriating what 
the Church has received from the labor of the fathers as 
a permanent possession of knowledge, will make still 

further inquiry 

All progress in knowledge, if it be healthy, connects 
itself with what has been learned before, and amplifies 

or corrects it It is clear that the times, Avhen the life 

of the Church flows on in a calm, even current, are not 
adapted to a further definition and settlement of the 
Church's doctrine. This occurs when a fact of salvation 
is called into qnestion by adversaries, or even by mem- 
bers of the Church, or is apprehended in such a manuer 
that Christian experience of salvation thereby suffers 
injury. Then the Church arises to defend her treasure 
mid repel the error, which is not so offensive to the un- 
derstanding as it is dangerous to sonls. It becomes 
then the office of persons full of the Spirit to enter into 
the conflict, and with prayer and investigation to begin 
the work The course of the controversy which will 



THE CHURCH DOCTRINE. 103 

claim the entire sympathy of the Church moves only by 
means of antagonisms, for almost all Christian facts of 
salvation have a double side, a divine and a human, 
which are not to be made prominent only on the one 
side, but their harmonious connection with each other 
requires to be properly adjusted also on the part of the 
understanding. Before this happens the Church does 

not really attain tranquility 

Although the Church is constantly changing in her 
members, she builds herself up by constantly sinking 
deeper into these divine truths; by instruction she im- 
plants them into the hearts of the children growing up 
within her, and makes confession of them also before 
those who do not yet belong to her, that they may be- 
come life- truths also to them.... This testimony is an 
expression of the life of the Church, without which she 
could not be conceived of. Just on this account she does 
not commit to chance or to the inclination of an individ- 
ual the issuing of such a testimony, but she herself un- 
dertakes this task and fulfils it, through a permanent 
office, through officially-appointed witnesses; whereby 
however, it is not meant that other members also of the 
Church, whom the Spirit of Christ impels, could not be 
qualified and would not be justified in acting as witnes- 
ses. It is manifest, then, that the official witnesses, who, 
in what comprises the fulfillment of the calling pertain- 
ing to the entire Church, dare not exercise a work of 
their own inclination, but they who stand there in the 
service of the Church, have to act only in the sense of 
the Church. As to what, therefore, concerns the doctrine, 
they are throughout pointed to that which is firmly 
established as the faith of the congregation and the doc- 
trine of the Church, and which is delivered to them in this 
capacity through the Confessions of the Church. The 
Confessions are to them the norm of their official activ- 



104 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

ity.... By this obligation required of the teachers no» 
violence is done them. For the Church has not compel- 
led them to accept the doctrines, but they have offered 
themselves to her for a service which the Church will 
not prevent them from abandoning at any moment. If, 
however, she has accepted their offer, she has done so 
upon the presumption that they who desire her minister- 
ial office are also one with her in the faith.... He who in 
the true sense is churchly, and at the same time of a 
sincere heart, will not complain of the constraint of the- 
symbols 1 . But to him who in the heart does not stand 
in the centre of the faith of the Church, or who in the- 
progress of knowledge has fallen into error, the symbol 
becomes of course a law; it is to him strange and more 
or less incomprehensible. He experiences now constraint,, 
as he ought. No one can expect the Church to leave it 
to the option of the individual as to how he should ex- 
ercise his office of testimony and confession.... As she 
cannot know either whether all who apply for service 
in her ministry do this from a sincere heart, or whether 
all her teachers will in the future be preserved from er- 
ror, she must at least maintain her rights and protect 
the welfare of the whole, so far as it is possible, against 
the subjective arbitrariness of the individual. The obli- 
gation to the symbols becomes necessary, and just 
those teachers of the Church who are the loudest in 
their complaints of it as an intolerable constraint, prove 
thereby how necessary it is 

The teacher who enters into the service of the Church 
is actually free with respect to the symbols when he 
truly shares the faith of the Church, and is thus in a full 
sense a living member of it. This true freedom he inn y. 
in en so of necessity, exercise even with respect to the 

1 "No one who is true to the Augsburg Confession will complain 
of these writings, but will cheerfully accept and tolerate them as wit- 
nesses of the truth*' (F. C, ]>. 538, 1 2). 



THE CHURCH DOCTRINE. 105 

symbols The teacher who is convinced that he has 

discovered a more suitable form has not only the right, 
but it is his duty, to bring' this to the knowledge of the 
Church ; aud no intelligent person will see in his activity, 
directed to the improvement of the Church's doctrine. 

any opposition to the same That the one making an 

innovation will act with great prudence and forbear auce 
is self-evident, provided he is at heart in a right relation 
to the Church. Above all, he will regard it a matter of 
great moment to investigate aright the sjmibol itself 
before he comes forward with his opposition . He will 
not only with all conscientiousness read, but will also 
study it, in order, so far as it is possible, to grasp its 
true sense: he will examine it according to the not gener- 
ally easily observed distinction between what, on the 
one hand, belongs to the matter concerned and its simple 
designation, and, on the other, what may be a purely 
temporal addition. Such an investigation of the earnest 
labor of the Fathers as would be not merely scientific 
would itself admonish still more humility and modesty. 
Thus it is also clear that the current talk about the 
insufficiency of the symbols cannot in the least be sup 
ported. This, too, often proceeds from those who them- 
selves do not share in the faith of the Church, and, just 
on that account, are incapable of comprehending the 
true sense of her Confession ; and with their voice there 
accords that of a large number of such as have scarcely 
superficially read the Confessions, not to say studied 
them It is manifest, therefore, of how great import- 
ance it must be to the minister of the Church to obtain 
the best possible understanding of her Confessions. But 
it will certainly become clear likewise that this knowledge 
is attained not so much by the study of the later dogm- 
atics, as by the investigation and stud}', on all sides, of 
the period in which tbese documents originated. As 



106 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

they are the result of an historical development, the 
attempt ought to be made to comprehend this in all its 
tendencies." 

4) We musi remain faithful to our Confessions. The object 
of a Creed is not to find out what God teaches, for this 
we find in the Bible, but to show what we believe. The 
Bible is the rule of faith, and the Creed the confession of 
our faith. A Lutheran is a Christian whose rule of faith 
is the Bible, and whose creed is the Book of Concord. 

Krauth 1 : "As genuine Lutheranism is most Biblical 
among systems Avhich professedly ground themselves on 
the supreme authority of God's word; as it is most 
evangelical among the systems that magnify our 
Saviour's grace, so is our Church at once most truly 
Catholic among all Churches which acknowledge that 
the faith of God's people is one, and most truly Protes- 
tant among all bodies claiming to be Protestant. She 
is the mother of all true Protestantism. Her Confession 
at Augsburg is the first official statement of Scriptural 
doctrine and usage ever issued against Romish heresy 
and corruption. Her Confessions are a wall of adamant 
against Romanism.... The doctrines of our Church have 
proved themselves the most mighty of all doctrines in 
winning men from Rome, and strongest of all doctrines 
in fixing the hearts of men, as a bulwark against all her 

efforts to regain the ground she had lost Suppose it 

were true, that the arguments for the pure doctrine of 
the Confessions seem to have little weight with men, 
shall we cease to urge them? After nineteen centuries 
of struggle, Christianity is in minority in the world.... 
After centuries of argument for the Trinity, there are, 
perhaps, more Socinians than ever. After three centuries, 
in which the pure doctrine of justification has been urged, 
millions in the Romish Church and very many nominal 

i Conservative Reformation, pp. 187—200. 



THE CHURCH DOCTRINE. 107 

Protestants reject it. With all the arguments for infant 
baptism, with the proofs urged so long and so ably for 
the validity of other modes of Baptism than immersion, 

how many millions of Baptists there are How little 

headway a pure and consistent faith in the gospel makes, 
after so many centuries ! But what have we to do with 
all this? Our business is to hold and urge the truth in 
all its purity, whether men will hear, or whether they 
will forbear. Truth will, at length, reach its aim and do 
its work 

In the great mercy of God a reaction and revival in 
the true sense is taking place.... The work is going on, 
and will go on, until the old ways have been found— till 
the old banner again floats on every breeze, and the old 
faith, believed, felt, and lived, shall restore the Church 
to her primal glory and holy strength." 

5) Intelligent fidelity to our Confessions must be an essential 
object of theological training. At no time in the history of 
the Christian Church has it been necessary to la}- greater 
stress on efficiency of ministerial training than the pres- 
ent. In this age of the worship of reason the minister 
must be thoroughly prepared with all knowledge which 
adapts him to the Scriptures, and the development of 
the Church in faith and creed as she rests on her founda- 
tion, the Word of God, or rather, as she rests on him of 
whom all Scripture is witness. 

Krauth 1 : "The student of theology must be taught 
the history of the Church in order to test all things, and 
hold fast to the good, and in order to comprehend the 
force and value of the decisions, on disputed points. 
Avhich the Church maintains over against all errorists... 
He must master the great facts in the history of the 
Church of all time; but most of all, the history of our 
own Lutheran Church, the richest, the most suggestive, 
the most heart-inspiring of the whole 

i Conservative Reformation, pp. 17G— 178. 



108 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

It is in the simple Biblical faith, in the incorrupt, 
profound, and self-harmonizing system of doctrine, in 
the historical caution and thoroughness, in the heart- 
felt piety, in the reverential spirit of worship, in the holy 
activity, which reaches every want of the souls and bodies 
of men, in fidelity in the pulpit and pastoral life, in un- 
comprising maintenance of sound government, in all 
these, which belong to our Church, it is in these the men 
of the future should be shaped. We would have them 
grounded in a thorough knowledge, an ardent love, a 
practical exhibition of all that belongs to the true idea 
of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, of the Evangelical 
Lutheran Christian, and of the Evangelical Lutheran 
Pastor. But to be worthy of the Church of Christian 
purity and of Christian freedom to which they belong, 
the Church of Luther and Melauchthon, of Arndt and 
Gerhard, of Spener and Francke, of Schwartz and Ober- 
lin, of Muhlenberg and Harms, and of departed worthies^ 
whose voices yet linger in our ears, they need a faith 
whose Confession shall be as articulate, as its convictions 
are deep." 

3. A brief history of the Confessions of the Evangelical 
Lutheran Church. 

The Book of Concord 1 , published June 25, 1580, 
contains all the symbolical books of the Lutheran Church. 
and includes the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, and 
the Athanasian Creed, and the six distinctive Confessions 
of the Lutheran Church, the Augsburg Confession, the 
Apology, the Smalcald Articles, the Small Catechism, 
the Large Catechism, and the Formula of Concord. 

1). The Apostles' Creed is so called not because it was 
composed by the Apostles, but because it is a brief sum- 
mary of the doctrine taught by the Apostles. It gradu- 

i The most valuable edition of the original lexis is thatofMiiller, 
7th cd.. Giitersloh, 1890. 



THE CHURCH DOCTRINE. 109 

ally grew out of the confessions recorded in the Scriptures 
-(Mark. 12:29; Johnl7:%, "Thee,theon/y true God;" ICor. 
-8: 4, "There is no God but one;" Gal. 3: 20, "God is one;" 1 
Tim. 2: 5, "For there is one God;" John 1: 49, "Thou art the 
Son of God" (Nathanael); John 6: 68, 69, "Lord, to whom 
shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we have 
believed and know that thou art the Holy One of God" (Peter); 
Matt. 16: 16, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God" 
(Peter); John 20: 28, "My Lord and my God" (Thomas). 
St. Paul gives us his confession in 1 Cor. 8: 6; 1 Tim. 3: 
16; Heb. 6: 1, 2; 5: 12; 1 Cor. 15: 3, 4; 2 Tim. 1: 13, 14; 
St. John in 1 John 4: 2; 2 John 10)— and out of the bap- 
tismal formula (Matt. 28: 19,20), which last deter mined 
its Trinitarian order and arrangement. In the churches 
of the West a distinction soon arose between the bap tismal 
€onfessious and the Rules of Faith. The latter became 
more explicit and were more particularly directed against 
false doctrine. The former, the baptismal confessions, 
finally took the form of the Apostles' Creed, while the 
latter, the Rules of Faith became substantially the same 
as the Nicene Creed. The creed confessed at baptism, at 
first, was not precisely the same. In different congrega- 
tions different forms were used, some shorter, some 
longer. The most complete forms of the baptismal creed 
in use in the West were found in the Churches of Rome, 
Aquileia,and Milan in Southern Europe,and in the African 
Churches of Carthage and Hippo. The form used in the 
Church at Rome gradually gained acceptance in the West 
on account of its intrinsic excellence and the command- 
ing position of the Church. The Latin text of the Creed 
of the Church at Rome is first given by Rufinus (about 
390 a. d., d. 410), and the Greek text, which is probably- 
older than the Latin, we have from Marcellusof Ancyra, 
who lived about 340 a. d. The Roman Creed was gradu- 
ally enlarged by the addition of several articles, and it 



HO INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

was not until the close of the fifth century that the pres_ 
ent text of the Apostles' Creed came into use, and not 
u ntil the eighth that it was generally accepted in the 
Churches of the West. 1 

2). As the Apostles' Creed had its origin in the bap- 
tismal confession used in the Western Churches, so like- 
wise the Nicene Creed had its origin in the baptismal 
formula used in the Eastern Churches. As the East- 
ern Church was continually in conflict with heresy, 
the baptismal confessions used in their Churches, even 
before the Council of Nicsea (325 a. d.), were more meta- 
physical, more definite and explicit than the Apostles' 
Creedj especially in the statement of the divinity of Christ. 
This can be seen from the Creed of Eusebius, on which 
the Nicene Creed was based. The Nicene Creed can be 
distinguished in three forms : 1 ) The original Nicene Creed 
Avas adopted at the first General Council, held at Nicasa 
in Bithynia, not far from Constantinople, in 325 a. d. 
This council was attended by 31 8 bishops and was called 
to settle the Arian controvers3 T . The Creed, however, 
abruptly ended with the words "and in theHoly Ghost. " 
2) At the second General Council, held at Constantinople 
in 381 a. d., consisting, however, of only 150 bishops, a 
few additions were made to the first two articles, but to 
the last article, treating of the Holy Ghost, important 
additions were made, especially directed against those 
who denied the Deity of the Holy Ghost. This enlarged 
Creed is known as the Nica?no-Constantinopolitan Creed 
of 381, but there is no evidence that it was accepted by 
a council, before the fourth General Council, held at 
Chaleedon, 451 a. d. 3) The final change made in the 
Nicene Creed took place in the Western Church, by the 
addition of the little Avord "filioque" (and in the Son"), 

i For a fuller presentation .see Schaff s Creeds of Christendom, vol. 
1, pp.14— 23; especially Caspari's Quellen ZU r Geschichte des Taufsymbols 
und der Glaubensregel. 3 vols., Chiistiania, 1866— 187H. 



THE CHURCH DOCTRINE. Ill 

the occasion of the greatest schism in Christendom, for 
that one word, together with the question of the Juris- 
diction of the Pope of Rome, divides the Greek and 
Roman Catholic Churches of the present day. This ex- 
pression ^filioque" was put into the Creed by the Latin 
Church without consulting the Church of the East. The 
first trace of this word in the Nicene Creed we find in the 
proceedings of the third Council of Toledo in Spain, 589 
a. d., but by the close of the ninth centurj 7 it was gener- 
ally accepted in the West, and at the Reformation passed 
over into the Protestant Churches. 

3). The origin of the Athanasian Creed like that of the 
Aposiles' is involved in obscurity. It is called Athanasian, 
not because he wrote it, but because it is a nobleexposi- 
tion and defence of the doctrine of the Trinity, of which 
Athanasius (d. 373) was the great champion. Of its 
authorship nothing is known for certain. It arose in 
the Latin churches of Gaul, North Africa, and Spain, 
drawn up origin ally, no doubt, by a follower of Augustine. 
It borrows some passages from Augustine and other 
Latin Fathers, and first appears in its full form about 
the beginning of the ninth century. The Creed consists 
of two chief parts, proceded by a prologue of two verses, 
and followed by an epilogue of one verse. The first part, 
verses 3— 26, sets forth the orthodox doctrine of the Holy 
Trinity to the exclusion of every kind of subordination 
of essence. The second part, verses 27 — 39, contains a 
very clear statement of the orthodox doctrine concern- 
ing the Person of Christ, as settled by the Council of 
Chalcedon, 451 a. d., and in this respect it is a valuable 
supplement to the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds. THe Atha- 
nasian Creed acquired great authority in the Western 
Church, and during the Middle Ages it was almost daily 
used in the morning devotions. In the Greek Church, 
however, it never obtained formal ecclesiastical sane- 



112 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

tion, and is to this day only used for private devotion, 
— the clause of the double procession of the Spirit, how- 
ever, being omitted. The Reformers accepted the Atha- 
nasian Creed, and Luther says of it: "It has been so 
composed that I do not know whether, since the days of 
the Apostles, anything more important and glorious 
has been written." 

4). As the Augsburg Confession is based upon articles 
which had already been prepared it may be useful to 
give the main facts in chronological order. 

1) On Oct. 1—3, 1529, a Conference took place at 
Marburg between Luther and the Saxon divines upon 
the one side, and Zwingli and the Swiss divines on the 
other side. Luther in conjunction with Melanchton, 
Jonas, Osiander, Brenz and Agricola, prepared the xv. 
Marburg Articles. These Articles were meant to show 
on what points the Lutherans and Zwinglians agreed 
and also to state the point on which they did not agree, 
— and as a fair statement of the points disputed and un- 
disputed, were signed by all the theologians of both 
parties. 1 

2) On the basis of these xv. Articles of Marburg, 
Luther with., the advice and assistance of the other 
theologians prepared xvn Articles, which were presented 
at the Conference held at Schwabach, Oct. 16, 1529, and 
hence known as the xvn. Articles of Schwabach. 2 

3) These xvn Articles of Schwabach are mainly doc- 
trinal, and in a revised form are the basis of thexxi. Doc- 
trinal Articles of the Augsburg Confession. But as they 
had been presented at Smalcald, Nov. 29, 1529, they 
have sometimes been called the Smalcald Articles, and 
were also known for a long time as the Torgau Articles, 

1 A translation of those Articles is given in Jacobs' edition of Book 
of Concord, vol. 2, pp. 69—74. 

~ For translation see Jacobs' edition of Book of Concord, vol. 2, pp. 
69— 74. 



THE CHUKCH DOCTRINE. 113 

because in a revised form Luther had sent them to 
Torgau, Mar. 20— 27, 1530. 

4) Charles v. finally summoned a Diet of the German 
Empire to convene at Augsburg, April 8, 1530; and he 
directed the friends of the Evangelical faith to prepare, 
for presentation to the Diet, a statement of the doctrinal 
points of division. This summons reached the Elector 
John of Saxony at Torgau on March 11, 1530. On 
March 14, a letter was sent to Luther, Jonas, Bugen- 
hagen and Melanchthon at Wittenberg, summoning 
them immediately to lay aside all other work and devote 
all the time that was left to the preparation of a paper 
covering all the articles, both of faith and of external 
usages and ceremonies, that were involved in the con- 
flict. The theologians were instructed to deliver the 
result of the deliberations in person to the Elector at 
Torgau on the following Sunday, March 20. This spe- 
cial writing, of which Luther was the chief author, 
assisted by the other theologians at Wittenberg, was 
sent to the Elector of Torgau, March 20—27, 1530, and 
are the Torgau Articles proper. These articles are on 
abuses, and form the basis of Articles xxn— xxvin, of the 
Augsburg Confession, its articles on Abuses. In addition 
to these articles, Luther, however, also sent a revised 
copy of the xvn. Articles of Schwabach, as stated above. 1 

5) These two sets of Articles sent to Torgau, March 
20—27, 1530, form the basis of the Augsburg Confession, 
and are mainly from the hand of Luther,— the xvn. Ar- 
ticles of Schwabach forming the basis of the xxi. Doc- 
trinal Articles, and the Torgau Articles proper forming the 
basis of the vn. Articles on Abuses. But as the Diet of 
Augsburg was not opened until June 20, time was given 
for Melanchthon to elaborate the Confession and give 

i For translation of the Torgau Articles see Jacobs' edition of Book 
of Concord, vol. 2, pp. 75—98. 



114 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

to it its matchless form. Melanchthon himself in his Cor- 
pus Doctrince (German, 1559, Latin, 1560), gives a brief 
history of the composition of the Augsburg Confession, 
how "in the presence of the Elector and princes and lega- 
tes who subscribed it, with the counselors and preachers,, 
all the articles were discussed and determined upon in re- 
gular course, sentence by sentence," how "the complete 
form of the Confession was subsequently sent to Luther, 
who wrote to the princes that he had both read this Con- 
fession and approved it." 1 

6) Dr. Krauth in his Conservative Reformation, pp. 219,. 
220: "In six instances, the very numbers of the Schwa- 
bach Articles correspond with those of the Augsburg Con- 
fession. They coincide throughout, not only in doctrine, 
but in a vast number of cases word for word, the Augs- 
burg Confession being a mere transcript, in these cases, 
of the Schwabach Articles. The differences are either 
merely stylistic, or are made more necessary by the 
larger object and compass of the Augsburg Confession ; 
but so thoroughly do the Schwabach Articles condition 
and shape every part of it, as to give it even the pecu- 
liarity of phraseology characteristic of Luther." 

"To a large extent, therefore, Melanchthon ? s work 
is but an elaboration of Luther's, and to a large extent 
it is not an elaboration, but a reproduction. To Luther 
belong the doctrinal power of the Confession, its inmost 
life and spirit, and to Melanchthon its matchless form. 
Both are in some sense its authors, but the most essen- 
tial elements are due to Luther, who is by pre-eminence 
its author, as Melanchthon is its composer." 

7) The Confession, in Latin and German, was pre- 
sented to the Diet of Augsburg on Saturday, June 25, 
1530. "Both texts are originals; neither text is properly 

i See especially the historic presentation by Dr. Krauth in his Con- 
servative Reformation, pp. 210— 24^. 



THE CHURCH DOCTRINE. 115 

a translation of the other; both present precisely the 
same doctrine, with verbal differences, which make the 
one an indispensable guide in the understanding of the 
other ; both texts have, consequently, the same author- 
ity. The German copy was the one selected, on national 
grounds, to be read aloud. Both copies were taken by 
the Emperor, who handed the German to the Elector of 
MentZj and retained the Latin. It is not now known 
where either of the originals is, nor with certainty that 
either is in existence. In addition to seven unauthorized 
editions in the year 1530, the Confession was printed, 
under Melanchthoirs own direction, both in Latin and 
German while the Diet was still sitting." (Dr. Krauth). 1 

8) Melanchthon' s varied edition of the Latin Confes- 
sion is of three kinds : 1) The edition of 1531, 8vo. The 
variations are slight and of a verbal nature. It has 
never been pretended that they affect the meaning. This 
edition has often been confounded with the original 
quarto edition of 1530. 2) The quarto edition of 1540, 
known as the Variata, because in it Melanchthon has 
elaborated anew some of the articles, and has made 
many important changes. 3) The octavo edition of 
1512, the Variata varied. This last has been frequently 
reprinted, and is sometimes confounded with the Variata 
of 1540. 

Of the edition of 1540, known as the Variata, Dr. 
Krauth says : 2 "It is not to be disputed that in various 
respects, as a statement of doctrine, the Variata has 
great beauty and great value, and that where it indis- 
putably is in perfect harmony with the Confession, it 
furnishes an important aid in its interpretation. Had 
Melanchthon put forth the new matter purely as a pri- 
vate writing, most of it would have received the unques- 

i Conservative Reformation, pp. 242, 243. 
2 Conservative Reformation, pp. 245, 246. 



116 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

tioned admiration to which it was well entitled. But he 
made the fatal mistake of treating a great official docu- 
ment as if it were his private property, yet preserving 
the old title, the old form in general, and the old signat- 
ures. 1 

9) Of the structure and contents of the Augsburg 
Confession Dr. Krauth says: 2 "It contains, as its two 
fundamental parts, a positive assertion of the most 
necessary truths, and a negation of the most serious 
abuses. It comprises: I. The Preface; II. Twenty-one 
Articles of Faith; III. An Epilogue-Prologue which unites the 
first part with the second, and makes a graceful transi- 
tion from the one to the other ; IY. The Second Great Divi- 
sion, embracing Seven Articles on Abuses; V. The Epilogue, 
followed by the Subscriptions." 

"The Articles may be classified thus: 1) The Confess- 
edly Catholic, or Universal Christian Articles, — those which 
Christendom, Greek and Eoman, have confessed, espe- 
cially in the Apostles' and Nicene Creed ... 2) The Prote- 
stant Articles, — those opposed to the errors of doctrine, 
and the abuses in usage, of the Papal part of the Church 
of the West. . 3) The Evangelical Articles,or parts of Articles, 
— those articles which especially assert the doctrines 
which are connected most directly with the Gospel in its 
essential character as tidings of redemption to lost 
man,^the great doctrines of grace. These articles are 
especially those which teach the fall of man, the radical 
corruption of his nature, his exposure to eternal death, 
and the absolute necessity of regeneration (Art. n.); 
the atonement of Christ, and the saving work of the 
Holy Spirit (m); justification by faith alone (iv), the 
true character of repentance, or conversion (xn); and 

i For a translation of the Variata of 1540 see Jacobs' edition of 
Book of Concord, vol. 2, pp. 103—147; for the chief divergences of the 
Variata of 1542 from that of 1510, see pp. 117—158. 

2 Pp. 253—255. 



THE CHURCH DOCTRINE. 117 

the impotence of man's own will to effect it (xvm). 4) 
The Conservative Articles, the Articles which set forth 
distinctive biblical doctrines which the Lutheran Churchholds 
in peculiar purity, over against the corruptions of 
Romanism, the extravagance of Radicalism, the per- 
versions of Rationalism, or the imperfect development 
of theology. Such are the doctrines of the proper in- 
separability of the two natures of Christ, both as to 
time and space (Art.m.) the objective force of the Word 
and Sacraments, (v), the reality of the presence of both 
the heavenly and earthly elements in the Lord's Supper 
(x), the true value of private, that is, of individual ab- 
solution (xi), the genuine character of sacramental 
grace (xm), the true medium, in regard to the rites of 
the Church (xv), the freedom of the will (xvn), and the 
proper doctrine concerning the cause of sin (xix). On 
all these points the Augsburg Confession presents views 
which either in matter or measure, are opposed to 
extremes, which claim to be Protestant and Evangelical. 
Pelagianizing, Rationalistic, Fatalistic, Fanatical, un- 
historical tendencies, which, more or less unconsciously, 
have revealed themselves, both in Romanism and in 
various types of nominally Evangelical Protestantism, 
are all met and condemned by the letter, tenor, or spirit 
of these articles." 

5) A few days after the presentation of the Augsburg- 
Confession, the Romish theologians were directed to pre- 
pare a paper as an answer. This confutation was formally 
presented to the Diet on August 3. It reviewed in regular 
order the Articles of the Augsburg Confession, endorsing 
some and condemning others. The Evangelical princes 
and theologians almost immediately resolved upon a 
formal reply. A conference, however, of fourteen, seven 
representing the Lutherans, and seven representing the 
Romanists, was first held (August 13— 21), in which the 



118 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

whole subject was discussed, but uo satisfactory result 
was reached. The preparation of the Apology was en- 
trusted to the evangelical theologians in general, 
although circumstances afterward made it the peculiar 
work of Melanchthon. It was fortunate that the Em- 
peror refused to accept the first draught of the Apology 
offered on September 22, for that refusal has substituted 
for Melanchthon's sketch the Apology as we now have it. 
On September 23, Melanchthon left Augsburg with the 
Elector of Saxony, and at once began to elaborate still 
further the Apology upon the basis of his former draught. 
His letters from November, 1530, to April, 1531, show 
how deeply he was absorbed by it. Toward the close of 
April, 1531, the first edition of the Apology appeared, in 
quarto, bound with the Augsburg Confession. This is 
the original Latin edition, the German text, translated 
by Justus Jonas, under the supervision and with the co- 
operation of Melanchthon, not appearing until in October 
1531. One year after its first publication, in April,1532, 
at the Conference held at Schweinfurth,the Apology was 
publicly approved by the Evangelical Estates as a Con- 
fession of Eaith. In 1537, at Sraalcald, the Apology, at 
the request of the Princes, was thoroughly compared with 
"the Augsburg Confession by the theologians, and then, 
as consonant with the Holy Scriptures and the Confes- 
sion, formally subscribed b} T them wich the declaration 
that they "held and taught in their churches according 
to the articles of the Confession and Apology." 

And it deserves the place our Church has given to it. 
It is written with an inimitable clearness, distinctness 
and simplicity which must carry conviction alike to the 
learned and unlearned. It is more than a polemical trea- 
tise. The doctrine of justificatio'n by faith alone, without 
works, is established by Melanchthon in the Apology with 
greater accuracy than anywhere else. In doctrine it is 



THE CHURCH DOCTKEsE. 119 

as pure as the Confession to whose vindication it is 
consecrated. Dr. Jacobs truly says: "To one charged 
with the care of souls the frequent reading of the Apol- 
ogy is invaluable, on account of the manner in which it 
solves difficulties connected with the most vital points 
in Christian experience; Avhile the private Christian, 
although perhaps compelled to pass by some portions 
occupied with learned discussions, will find in many— we 
may say, in most— parts, what is in fact a book of prac- 
tical religion." 1 

Of the second and third chapters of the Apology (of 
Justification, and of Love and the Fulfilling of the Law) 
Philippi says (Kirch. Gl. V. i., p. 36): "If the Epistle to the 
Romans can be called the centre and the crowm,the very 
kernel and star, of the entire Scriptures, so likewise we 
€an affirm this of these two articles of the Apology in 
their relation to the entire contents of the confessional 
writings of our Church,— so clearly are they grounded 
in Scripture and experience,so triumphant, edifying, and 
consoling is their development." 

6) The Smalcald Articles were prepared in the ex- 
pectation that a free General Council would be held 
in Mantua, May 23, 1537. This council, however, 
•did not convene until 1545, at Trent, and then 
was an exclusive Roman Catholic Council the famous, 
Council of Trent (1545—1563). The Elector of Saxony 
wished to have a new statement of the great doctrinal 
principles of our Churh, especially touching those 
questions which would arise at the Council as matters 
of discussion between Lutherans and Romanists. He, 
therefore, asked Luther to prepare such articles as a basis, 
and to report before January 25, 1537. These articles 
were prepared by Luther, and having been approved by 
his colleagues,were sent to the Elector, January 3, 1537. 

1 See Historical Introduction to the Book of Concord, vol. 2, p. 41 . 



120 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

The Articles thus prepared were taken to the Convention 
of the Evangelical States, held at Smalcald, February, 
1537. There they were thoroughly examined by our 
great theologians and by them subscribed, February 15, 
and from the place where they were signed, came to be 
called the Smalcald Articles. The reasons why this new 
Confession was prepared are thus stated by Dr. Krauth: 1 
1) The Augsburg Confess/on had too much, in some respects, 
for the object in view. The object in view, in 1537, was 
to compare the points of controversy between the 

Lutherans and the Romanists The Augsburg 

Confession had done its great work in correcting mis- 
representations of our Church, .... and it was now 

desirable that she should the more clearly express 

herself on the points of difference. 2) The Augsburg 
Confession has too little for a perfect exhibition of the full 
position of our Church as to the errors of Rome. 3) The 
A C. was not in the right key for the work now to be 

done The motion of the A. C. was to the flute,the 

S. A. moved to the peals of the clarion, and the roll of 
the kettle-drum. In the A. C. truth makes her overtures 
of peace, in the S. A. she lays down her ultimatum in a 
declaration of war. 4) That which was secondary in the 
A. C. is primary in the Smalcald Articles In these Ar- 
ticles Luther presents directly the principles of the Evan- 
gelical (Lutheran) Church, and of the Romish See, in 
their conflict." 

At the request of the Elector, Melanchthon while at 
Smalcald, prepared an Appendix to the Smalcald Articles 
on "The Power and Primacy of the Pope," about which 
the Augsburg Confession and Apology are silent. Of this 
Appendix Dr. Shaff in his Creeds of Christendom (vol. 
1, p. 256) says: "The Appendix of Melanchthon is a 
theological masterpiece for his age, written in a 

1 Conservative Reformation, pp. 281—283. 



THE CHURCH DOCTRINE. 121 

calm, moderate, and scholarly tone, refuting, from the 
Bible and from the history of the Early Church, these 
three assumptions of the Pope, as 'false, impious, tyran- 
nical, and pernicious in the extreme,' viz. : 1) That the 
Pope, as the Yicar of Christ, has by divine right supreme 
authority over the bishops and pastors of the whole 
Christian world ; 2) That he has by divine right both 
swords, that is, the power to enthrone and dethrone 
kings, and to regulate civil affairs; 3) That Christians 
are bound to believe this at the risk of eternal salvation. 
He also shows from Scripture and from Jerome that 
the power and jurisdiction of Bishops, so far as it differs 
from that of other ministers, is of human origin, and 
has been grossly abused in connection with the papal 
tyranny." 

Of the Smalcald Articles and Melanchthon's Appen- 
dix, Kollner in his Symbolik says : "For our Church these 
writings must ever remain very weighty, and the more 
because outside of them there is nowhere else in the 
Symbols so ample a statement about the Papacy, and 
what is to be noted well, so ample a statement against 
it." (Quoted by Dr. Krauth in Conservative Reformation^. 
283). 

7) In chronological order, as writings, the two 
Catechisms, which appeared in 1529, would have preceded 
the Augsburg Confession, following directly after the 
three General Creeds, but in the Book of Concord they follow 
the Smalcald Articles because of their later symbolical 
authority. During the visitation of the Churches of 
Saxony in 1528 and 1529, as one of a commission ap- 
pointed by the Elector, Luther found the religious 
wants of the people greatly neglected . To provide for 
this want he prepared his two Catechisms. The quest- 
ion which of the two Catechisms was published firsts 
has been differently answered, but recent criticism 



122 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

has established the fact, that the Large Catechism ap- 
peared about March or April, 1529, while the Small 
Catechism was not published uutil about July or August, 
1529. Although these two Catechisms are the private 
writings of Luther, composed by him on his own author- 
ity and solely for the sake of instruction, they attained 
symbolical authority by their inherent worth. 

8) The history of the preparation of the Formula of 
Concord may be divided into three parts : I. The events 
which rendered necessary the preparation of a new Con- 
fession. I. The first cause were the vacillations of 
Melanchthon. He thought that peace could be restored 
by ambiguous formulas, accepted indeed by both 
parties, but understood in different senses. The three 
works of Melanchthon in which the changes were most 
noted and most mischievous are a) the Augsburg Con- 
fession; b) the Apology; and c) his Loci Communes. 2. 
The second cause was the conflict between the Philippists 
or adherents of Melanchthon, and the more consistent 
Lutherans. Unfortunately much that Melanchthon wrote 
could be taken in two senses. We have 28 volumes of 
Melanchthon's writings, and at this hour, impartial 
and learned men are not agreed as to what were his 
views on some of the profoundest questions of Church 
doctrine, on which Melanchthon was writing all his life. 
3. Another reason why a new Confession was necessary 
arose from the controversy furnished by the Melanch- 
thonian Corpus Doctrines of 1560, to which the adherents 
of Melanchthon desired to give confessional authority, 
an effort which was resisted by the consistent Lutherans 
on the ground a) that it was largely composed of 
private writings on which no official action of the 
Church had been taken ; b) that the texts of its most 
important parts were greatly changed and corrupted; 
and c) that it was ambiguous on some vital points, and 



THE CHURCH DOCTRINE. 123 

unsound on others. 4. Another reason lay in the fact 
that the "Wittenberg theologians embodied Crypto- 
Calvinistic doctrines in their various writings. 5. This 
alarming state of things (1569) led to various consulta- 
tions on the part of our theologians, who were very 
anxious to save the Church from internal discord. Chief 
among them were James Andreas (d. 1590), Martin 
-Chemnitz (d. 1586), David Chytrams (d. 1600), and 
Nicholas Selneccer (d. 1592), all of them great theo- 
logians, moderate in spirit, earnest Christians, and in- 
tensely devoted to the purity and peace of the Church. 
6. In 1573 James Andreas prepared an exposition of the 
existing controversies. Taking this "Exposition" as a 
basis Chemnitz and Chytrseus elaborated it, and in 1575 
it appeared as the Suabian-Saxon Formula of Concord. 
It was this formula which became a general ground- 
work of the Formula of Concord. 

II. The second part of the history of the prepara- 
tion of the Formula of Concord treats of the events 
terminating in the preparation of the Torgau Formula 
of 1576. 1. In 1576 Elector Augustus asked for a clear 
statement of the points at issue. This was furnished 
him in a paper, which was simply an abridgment of the 
Suabian-Saxon Formula, with proof passages from 
Scripture, and citations from Luther added. 2. This 
document was submitted to a number of theologians, 
delegates of the various princes, at a convention held 
at the cloister of Maulbrunn, January 19, 1576. It was 
examined and approved by them and is known as the 
Maulbrunn Formula. 3. In May, 1576, there was a con- 
vention of 18 theologians, of different lands, at Torgau. 
The most distinguished were Andrea?, Cbytraeus, Chem- 
nitz, Selneccer, Musculus, and Koerner. They examined 
carefully the Suabian-Saxon Formula of 1575, and its 
abridgment, the Maulbrunn Formula, and resolved to 



124 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

form a new formula on the basis of the Suabian-Saxon 
Formula. Thus originated the Formula of Torgau, in 
1576, after the toils and anxieties of seven years. 

III. The third period of the history of the Formula 
of Concord opens with the sending forth of the Torgau 
Formula for examination by the Churches (1576), and 
ends with the publication of the Book of Concord, 1580. 
1. The Formula of Torgau was everywhere received 
with interest. In the course of three months 20 con- 
ventions of theologians were held. The Formula was 
scrutinized in every part. The great mass of the 25 
responses testified to a general approval of the Form- 
ula, but it was clear that the document had not yet 
reached the shape in which it could fully meet the wants 
of the Church. 2. As soon as these answers were re- 
ceived, the Elector Angustus called together the three 
greatest of the co-workers, Chemnitz of Brunswick, An- 
dreas of Tuebingen, and Selneccer of Leipsic, to revise 
the Torgau Formula in the light of the expressed judg- 
ments of the Churches. They met at the cloister of 
Bergen, near Magdeburg. Here the Torgau Formula 
was submitted to the first revision, March 1—14, 1577. 
3. The second and final revision took place at the same 
place, May 19—28,1577. But to the first Triumvirate, 
Chytrceus, Musculus, and Koerner, had been added. 
Though they examined the Formula with minute care, 
they found little to change. 4. We now know it as the 
Bergen Formula, but it was to be known in history as 
the Formula of Concord, for this it was. Between this time 
and its publication in 1580, in the Book of Concord, no 
change whatever was made in it. 1 



'rv 



i On the history of the Formula of Concord, see especially Krauth's 
Conservative Reformation, pp. 289—328, from which this note has been 
condensed. Also Jacobs' Book of Concord, vol. 2, pp. 51— Gl, and the 
literature there cited. 



THE CHURCH DOCTRINE. 125 

4. The Church Doctrine as consisting of Articles of Faith. 

Hollaz defines an article of faith as "a part of the 
doctrine revealed in the written Word of God, concern- 
ing God and divine things, set forth to be believed by 
the sinner to his salvation." 

These Articles of Faith are divided, according to 
their contents into "pure" and "mixed" articles. 

Pure articles of faith treat of those divine mj^steries 
which transcend the capacity of unaided human reason, 
which yet are divinely revealed in the Word of God and 
are simply matters of faith, as the article concerning the 
Trinity, the union of the divine and human natures in 
Christ, etc. 

Mixed articles are those parts of Christian doctrine 
which are known to some extent from the light of nat- 
ure, as the being and attributes of God, etc. Quenstedt, 
however, says of such mixed articles, that "they are not 
believed so far as they are known by the light of nature, 
but in so far as they are known by divine revelation." 
The mixed articles coalesce with the so-called religion of 
nature. "Rationalism, "says Hase, "finds the source of 
Christianity in the mixed articles, in the pure, only the 
phenomenon." 

According to their importance, articles of faith are 
divided into "fundamental" and "non-fundamental" 
articles. 

The "fundamental" articles are those which are in- 
timately connected with the foundation of the faith, which 
cannot be unknown, or at least not denied, consistently 
with faith and salvation. 

"The foundation of the faith" is either substantia/ or 
dogmatic. The "substantial" foundation of the faith and 
salvation is Crist, since he is the meritorious cause of 
obtaining 1 from God forgiveness of sins and eternal life 



126 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

The "dogmatic" foundation of the faith is the collection 
of doctrines divinely revealed, by which Christ, the sub- 
stantial foundation of the faith, and the sources and 
means of salvation necessarily connected therewith, are 
set forth. But the substantial and the dogmatic foun- 
dation of the faith are not two foundations essentially 
contradistinguished from each other, nor do they differ 
as to their subject-matter. For Christ is the foundation, 
as to the subject-matter; the doctrine concerning Christ 
is the foundation, as to our knowledge (Hollaz). 

The "fundamental" articles are divided into "pri- 
mary fundamental" articles, without the knowledge of 
which no one can attain unto eternal salvation, or 
which must be known in order for any one to hold the 
foundation of the faith and secure salvation, and the 
"secondary fundamental" articles, which one may be ig- 
norant of, but dare not deny, much less oppose, without 
injury to the foundation of faith (Quenstedt). 

The "primary fundamental" articles are subdivided 
into 1) constituent, 2) antecedent, and 3) consequent 
articles of faith. 

The "constituent" articles of faith are those which 
immediately and most nearly relate to our salvation, 
and intrinsically constitute and cause faith, such as the 
doctrines of the Trinity, of Sin, of the Word of God, of 
Regeneration, of Conversion, of Justification, of the uni- 
versal Atonement and Merits of Christ, of Faith, etc. 

The "antecedent" articles are those which do hot, 
indeed, cause justifying and saving faith, nor are abso- 
lutely and immediately necessary to its existence, but 
which are, nevertheless, necessary to the complete and 
permanent establishment of those doctrines which pro- 
duce and constitute faith, as the doctrines of the exist- 
ence of God, of Divine Revelation, of the Divinity of 
Christ, of the Sinfulness of Man, of the Divine and Hu- 



THE CHURCH DOCTRINE. 127 

man Natures of Christ, of the Resurrection of the Dead, 
of the Last Judgment, etc. 

The "consequent"' articles are those which so neces- 
sarily follow established faith, that if they be not held, 
faith itself again is lost, as the doctrines of the Eternal 
Duration of God, the Executive Justice of God, the 
Regal Office of Christ, of Baptism, the Lord's Supper, 
the Mystical Union, of Sanctification, of the Church, etc. 
(After Hollaz). 

The "secondary fundamental" articles are those, a 
simple want of acquaintance with which does not pre- 
vent our salvation, but the pertinacious denial of, and 
hostility to, will OA T erturn the foundation of faith, as 
the characteristic peculiarities of the Divine Persons, of 
the Intercommunication of Attributes in Christ, of Orig- 
inal Sin, of Predestination, etc. 

The "non-fundamental "articles of faith are parts of 
the Christian doctrine which one may be ignorant of, or 
deny, and yet be saved, as the question of the Time of 
Creation, of the Cause of the Fall of the Angels, of the 
Character of Antichrist, of the Origin of the Soul, etc. 
But at the same time we must be careful even in the 
treatment of these articles, because under certain cir- 
cumstances these non-fundamental articles may become 
in their relation to other articles, fundamental. 

This distinction between "fundamental" and "non- 
fundamental" articles has been drawn by our dogma- 
ticians to make clear the doctrinal differences between 
the Lutheran Church, on the one side, and the Reformed 
and Roman Catholic Churches, on the other side. 

To the true unity of the Church a hearty and honest 
consent is required in the fundamental Articles of Faith. 
But here the question arises what doctrines are funda- 
mental? Philippi says 1 : "The expiatory death of the God- 
man, through which the restoration of communion with 



128 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

God is imparted, and upon which it is founded, forms 
both the centre and the foundation of salvation. .... 
Dogmatic theology is nothing more than the develop- 
ment, in its various directions, of this central funda- 
mental doctrine The one fundamental doctrine 

forming the centre sets forth in itself the various ideas 
and doctrines of salvation that it contains; and there 
fore everything thus developed by inner necessity from 
this centre is just as fundamental as the centre itself. 
Thus, about the central fundamental doctrine (the con. 
stitutive articles, specially so called) the entire collection 
of peripheral fundamental doctrines (consecutive articles) 
is formed, which again, on their part, enclose the centre 

in wider or narrower concentric circles There is, 

therefore, a continuous series of divine fundamental 
facts, and of divine fundamental testimonies correspond- 
ing to these facts, which taken together extend back to 
the centre, namely, the fact of redemption and the doc- 
trine of redemption, and proceed therefrom But 

we have to consider not only the distinction between 
the central and the concentric or peripheral, but also 
the distinction between that which is immediately and 
that which is mediately fundamental. To the 'immediately 
fundamental' belong all such doctrines as relate to 
divine facts which still continue to form the ground of 
our salvation, — the facts of creation, of redemption, 
and of sanctification. Here there is indeed that which 
is central and peripheral, but all is immediately funda- 
mental. 

On the other hand, the 'mediate fundamental' doc- 
trines are such as either refer to divine facts, which, if 

i Klrchl. Glbslehre. 1. (Third Edition), pp. 112— 115. * For a 
translation of this -whole discussion of Philippi on ''What is a funda- 
mental Doctrine?" (pp. 112—124), see Jacobs' Book of Concord, vol. 2, 
pp.321 — 327. On the general subject compare Rudelbach's Reforma- 
tion, Lutherthum und Union, Chap. 12, pp. 5-10—008. 



THF CHUKCH DOCTRINE. 129 

they formerly constituted the foundation of our salva- 
tion, constitute it no longer (as the original creation in 
the divine image), or as are not properly acts pertain- 
ing to salvation, but only acts preparatory to those 
of salvation, or acts of judgment following the rejec- 
tion of the acts of salvation; or as refer to human acts 
(as the original and continued fall of man from God), 
to which the divine facts of judgment and salvation 
stand in the closest relation. But even these 'mediate 
fundamental' doctrines still remain fundamental doc- 
trines, in so far as they not only are inwardly connected 
with the immediate peripheral fundamental doctrines, 
but also have been organically developed with them 
from the one central fundamental doctrine; so that a 
holding in its purity of these doctrines, or an alteration 
of the same, must be reciprocal, as has actually been 
found to occur.'' 

On the other hand Franks says, and in substance 
with him agrees Luthardt: ''Anew elaboration of the 
doctrine of fundamental statements is certainly needed, 
since the form of the same thus far presented from 
Nicholas Hunnius to Philippi is objectionable from the 
fact that it seeks mostly to draw the distinction ac- 
cording to an entirely objective rule, according to the 

knowledge necessary for salvation In fact, the 

dogmaticians, in drawing the distinction between fun- 
damentals and non-fundamentals, have not manifested 
a very clear perception— not merely that they are every- 
where in doubt whether to designate a doctrine as 
non-fundamental, and evidently do not agree with each 

i In his Theologie der Concordienformel, vol. 1. pp. 17—20. Erlangen, 
1858. This passage is also translated by Dr. Jacobs in Book of 
Concord, vol. 2, pp. 327—320. (Philippi, in his third edition in a 
foot-note (p. 124) remarks, that as far as he can see. there is an 
essential agreement between Frank and himself, and that the only 
difference is that his own presentation is developed further). 



130 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

other in the statement of the same, but even when they 
have taken courage to name a doctrine as non-funda- 
mental, — as, for example,that of the Immortality of 
Man before the Fall,that of the Sin and Eternal Damna- 
tion of the Wicked Angels, or of Antichrist, — they im- 
mediately add one restriction to another, whereby the 
denial of such article may be prejudicial to the condi- 
tions of salvation 

That which is absolutely fundamental is only one,, 
namely, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But this occurs 
in an organic way. Jesus Christ is the living, all-pene- 
trating centre, the kernel and star of the entire Holy 
Scriptures. Every part of revelation depends organic- 
ally, and after the manner of members upon him. Thus 
viewed, everything is fundamental, and just, as in refer- 
ence to the law of the Lord he who sins in one point is 
guilty of all, so also especially in reference to the revela- 
tion of salvation, he who attacks a single member, offers 
violence to the whole organism itself and to its Head. 
And, thus considered, there still remains only one things 
that is fundamental ; for as love is the fulfilling of the 
law, and all else is comprehended in this one thing, so 
also he who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, has the 
entire organism of salvation, with all else comprised in 
it which is necessary for blessedness. 

The question, according to the change from that 
which is relative in the fundamental to that which is 
absolute, is, then, to be decided in accordance with the 
position, at the time, of the believing individual to the 
organism of salvation. If an individual Christian or a 
Christian congregation has at any time learned to know 
any part of the saving revelation as a membei\of the 
organism, this part, whether it appear in itself large or 
small, becomes to that individual or congregation for- 
ever fundamental. For with the despising or rejection of 



THE CHURCH DOCTRINE. 131 

even the least matter there is a despising and rejection 
of the organism itself, whose life supports and passes 
through even those things which are least. The Church, 
which in its course through the world has organized, 
and in its symbols has fixed as such, one portion of sav- 
ing truth after another, can therefore consider none of 
the same otherwise than fundamental. 

For the Church, I say, everything is fundamental that 
it has obtained, in reference to doctrine, from the 
Scriptures and has fixed in its Confessional writings; 
and here is the point in which every union in doctrine 
between two churches must be frustrated. But in the 
Church there exists partly that which is equally, partly 
that which is less, and partly also that which is more, 
fundamental than that of the Church itself. Of the 
shepherds and teachers of the Church such a degree of 
knowledge must as a rule be required, that to them 
everything, even to the least point, is fundamental 
which is fundamental to the Church. 

But to the laity only such a degree of faith is, as a 
rule, to be demanded that, founded upon that which is 
absolutely fundamental, they may gradually grow up, 
under the training of the Church, to the heights of 
Churchly knowledge. 

Finally, in a still smaller number, whose personal 
knowledge of salvation is more comprehensive than 
that of the Church, the extent of that which is funda- 
mental is increased in proportion as they have entered, 
in a still greater degree than the Confession, into the 
depths and remote places of the organism of salvation. " 

5. The Fundamental Principles of Faith of the General Council 
of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of North America 1 . 
The growth of Church consciousness has been a 

i The Lutheran Church in this country (1894) consists in round 
numbers of 5,400 ministers, ( J,200 congregations, and 1.400,000 of 



132 Ds'TKODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

marked feature of the later life of the Lutheran Church 
in this country. Its outgrowth has been the organiza- 
tion of the General Council in 1867. and of the Synodical 
Conference in 1872. 

The strict confessionalism of the General Council can 
be seen from its statements of the "fundamental and 
unchangeable" Principles of Faith *, which lie as the basis 

communing members. It is divided into 60 Synods, and organized 
under 4 General bodies: 1) General Synod, North, since 1821; 2) Gen- 
eral Council, since 1867; 3) Synodical Conference, since 1872: 4) 
United Synod South, since 1886. 

The first, the General Synod is largely unionistic,bnt with growing 
elements of a more churchly character in faith and practice. There 
are two elements in it, the one laying a greater stress on the distinct- 
ive doctrines and usages of Lutheranism, and the other warmly en- 
couraging all syncretistic plans of union. 

The second general body, the General Council, is strictly Lutheran 
in Confession, but in the practical application of its principles in dis- 
cipline, especially on the "four points" in controversy ("pulpit and 
altar fellowship, Chiliasm and Secret Societies"), has failed to satisfy 
the Synodical Conference, and several Independent Synods, as the 
Iowa and Ohio Synods. Even among the nine Synods comprising 
the General Council there has been some difference in the application 
of the principles involved in the "four points." some applying them 
more strictly than others, but, in general, the great work of the 
General Council has been and is, to educate the mind oi the Church, 
and to protest against all unionistic tendencies, secret associations, 
and all errors in doctrines, endeavoring to solve the great problem of 
the Lutheran Church of this country, how to unite the various 
nationalities, speaking different languages (English, German, Nor- 
wegian, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, etc.), into one body, 
harmonious in faith and practice. 

The Synodical Conference, the outgrowth of the Synod of Missouri, 
has been by pre-eminence the representative of Lutheran Orthodoxy, 
and lias been noted for its strong testimony against all unionistic 
tendencies, for its unflinching stand against all errors in doctrine, and 
especially for its bold denouncement of all secret organizations. 

The United Synod, South, the smallest of the four general bodies, is 
churchly and conservative, strictly Lutheran in confession, and in 
practice more in harmony with the General Council than with the 
General Synod. 

t "1) There must be and abide through all time, one holy Christ- 
ian Church, which is the assembly of all believers, among whom the 
Gospel is purely preached, and the Holy Sacraments are administered, 
as the Gospel demands. 

To the true Unity of the Church, it is sufficient that there be 
agreement touching the doctrine of the Gospel, that it be preached in 
one accord, in its pure sense, and that the Sacraments be administ- 
ered conformably to God's Word. 



THE CHURCH DOCTRINE. 133 

2) The true Unity of a particular Church, in virtue of which men 
are truly members of one and the same Church, and by which any 
Church abides in real identity, and is entitled to a continuation other 
name, is unity in doctrine and faith and in the Sacraments, to- wit: 
That she continues to teach and to set forth, and that her time mem- 
bers embrace from the heart, and use, the articles of faith and the 
Sacraments as they were held and administered when the Church 
came into distinctive being and received a distinctive name. 

8) The Unity of the Church is witnessed to, and made manifest in 
the solemn, public and official Confessions which are set forth, to- wit: 
The generic Unity of the Christian Church in the general Creeds, and 
the specific Unity of pure parts of the Christian Church in their specific 
Creeds; one chief object of both classes of which Creeds is, that 
Christians who are in the Unity of faith, may know each other as 
such, and may have a visible bond of fellowship. 

■i) That Confessions may be such a testimony of Unity and bond 
of Union, they must be accepted in every statement of doctrine, in 
their own true, native, original and only sense. Those who set them 
forth and subscribe them, must not only agree to use the same 
words, but must use and understand those words in one aud the 
same sense. 

5) The Unity of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, as a portion 
of the holy Christian Church, depends upon her abiding in one and 
the same faith, in confessing which she obtained her distinctive being 
aud name, her political recognition, and her history. 

6) The Unaltered Augsburg Confession is by pre-eminence the 
Confession of that faith. The acceptance of its doctrines and the 
avowal of them without equivocation or mental reservation, make, 
mark and identify that Church, which alone in the true, original, 
historical and honest sense of the term is the Evangelical Lutheran 
Church. 

7) The only Churches, therefore, of any laud, which are properly 
in the Unity of that Communion, and by consequence entitled to its 
name. Evangelical Lutheran, are those which sincerely hold and 
truthfully confess the doctrines of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession. 

8) We accept and acknowledge the doctrines of the Unaltered 
Augsburg Confession in its original sense as throughout in conform- 
ity with the pure truth of which God's Word is the only rule. We 
accept its statements of truth as in perfect accordance with the 
Canonical Scriptures. We reject the errors it condemns, and believe 
that all which it commits to the liberty of the Church, of right be- 
longs to that liberty. 

9) In thus formally accepting and acknowledging the Unaltered 
Augsburg Confession, we declare our conviction, that the other Con- 
fessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, inasmuch as they set 
forth none other than its system of doctrine, and articles of faith, are 
of necessity pure and Scriptural. Pre-eminent among such accordant, 
pure and Scriptural statements of doctrine, by their intrinsic excel- 
lence, by the great and necessary ends for which they were prepared, 
by their historical position, and by the general judgment of thn 
Church, are these: the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, the 
Smalcald Articles, the Catechisms of Luther, and the Formula of 
Concord, all of which are, with the Unaltered Augsburg Confession, 
in perfect harmony of one aud the same Scriptural faith." 



134 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

of its Constitution. Krauih 1 : " Accepting these prin- 
ciples, we stand upon the everlasting foundation— the 
Word of God: believing that the Canonical Books of the 
Old and New Testament are in their original tongues, 
and in a pure text, the, perfect and only rule of faith. 
.... Not any word of man, no creed, commentary, 
theological system, or decision of Fathers or of Coun- 
cils, no doctrine of Churches, or of the whole Church, no 
results or judgments of reason, however strong, mat- 
ured, and well informed, no one of these, and not all of 
these together, but God's Word alone is the rule of faith. 
No apocryphal books, but the canonical books alone 

are the rule of faith 

As the acceptance of the Word of God as a Rule of 
Faith separates us from the Mohammedan, as the re- 
ception of the New Testament sunders us from the Jew, 
as the hearty acquiescence in the Apostles', Nicene and 
Athanasian Creeds shows us, in the face of all errorists 
of the earlier ages, to be in the faith of the Church Cath- 
olic, so does our unreserved acceptance of the Augsburg 
Confession mark us as Lutherans ; and the acceptance 
of the Apology, the Catechisms of Luther, the Smalcald 
Articles, and the Formula of Concord, continues the 
work of marking our separation from all errorists of 
every shape, whose doctrines are in conflict with the 
true sense of the Rule of Faith— that Rule whose teach- 
ings are rightly interpreted and faithfully embodied 
in the Confessions afore-mentioned. Therefore, God help- 
ing us, we will teach the whole faith of His Word, 
which faith our Church sets forth, explains, and defends 
in her Symbols. We do not interpret God's Word by 
the Creed, neither do we interpret the Creed by God's 

i Condensed from Dr. Krauth's Conservative Reformation, pp. 165— 
169. Dr. Krauth also was the author of "The Principles of Faith 
and Church Polity," which were adopted, as the basis of the Consti- 
tution of the General Council, at Reading, Pa., 1866. 



THE DISPOSITION OF DOGMATICS. 135 

Word, but interpreting both independently, by the laws 
of language, and finding that they teach one and the 
same truth, we heartily acknowledge the Confession as 
a true exhibition of the faith of the Rule,— a true witness 
to the one, pure, and unchanging faith of the Christian 
Church/' 

6. The Consciousness of Faith. 
By the consciousness of faith we mean that internal 
assurance and inner possession which the dogmatician 
has of those saving truths of Christianity, which the 
Scriptures reveal and the Church teaches. It is this inner 
consciousness of faith which is the starting-point and 
the source of the production of doctrine in a dogmatic 
system, but such a presentation of doctrine must be 
based on the Word of God as the Rule of Faith, and 
compared with the doctrine of the Church. 

§ 14. The Disposition of Dogmatics. 

The division of the material is suggested by 
the contents and the aim of Dogmatics, namely, 
the delineation of that fellowship with God on 
the part of man, which has come into historic 
being in Christ. The arrangement has been made 
sometimes synthetically, sometimes analytically, 
sometimes in accordance with the three articles 
of the Apostles' Creed, and sometimes in the 
historic order of the development of its great 
leading parts. 

Luthardt, after his "Prolegomena" (§ 1—14) and 
"History of Dogmatics" (§ 15—21) presents his system 
under six heads : 

1) The Establishment of the Fellowship of God in 
the Will of God's Eternal Love (§ 22—32); 



136 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

2) The Creation of Man and of the World which has 
been given to him, as the beginning of the historical 
Actualizing of the Divine Love and Purpose (§ 33—39); 
3) The Disruption of the Original Fellowship of God 
through Sin, and the Preparation for its Restoration 
( § 40-45); 

4) The Restoration of the Fellowship of God in 
Christ Jesus (§46—56); 

5) The Appropriation of the Fellowship of God re- 
stored in Christ Jesus (§ 57 — 74); 

6) The Completion of the Fellowship of God or 
The Last Things (§ 75—79). 

Martensen, Marheineke and Kahnis follow the order 
of the articles of the Apostles' Creed : 

1) The Doctrine of the Father; 

2 ) The Doctrine of the Son ; 

3) The Doctrine of the Spirit. 

Philippi divides his system into five parts and fol- 
lows the order of the historical actualizing of the Fel- 
lowship of Man with God : 

1) The Original Fellowship of God ; 

2) The Disruption of the Fellowship of God : 

3) The Restoration of the Fellowship of God ; 

a) Of Election and the Person of Christ. 

b) Of the work of Christ. 

4) The Appropriation of the Fellowship of God ; 

a) The Order of Salvation. 

b) The Means of Grace. 

c) The Doctrine of the Church. 

5) The Completion of the Fellowship of God. 

And so in substance the systems of Thomasius^and 
Frank, though otherwise formulated. 

In our own system we will follow the order of 
Luthardt's /Compendium, but instead of his main divisions 
as given above, we will employ the technical expres- 



THE DISPOSITION OF DOGMATICS. 137 

sions generally used in the synthetic method. In order 
to present the whole system of Dogmatic theology be- 
fore the eye of the student, we herewith give an outline, 
according to which the subject-matter of Dogmatics 
will be treated. 

Prolegomena or Introduction (§ 1 — 21). 

PART I. 

Theologia or the Doctrine of God (§ 22 — 37). 

§ 22. The Treatment of the Doctrine of God. 

§ 23. The Natural Revelation of God and its Limits. 

1. The Significance of Revelation. 

2. The Definition of Revelation. 

3. General Revelation. 

§ 24. The so-called Proofs of the Existence of God. 

1. Proofs derived from Reflection on the World. 

2. Proofs derived from Reflection of man upon himself. 
§ 25. The Supernatural Revelation of God. 

1. The Fact of Revelation. 

2. The Definition of Revelation. 

3. The Constituent parts of Revelation. 

4. The Contents of Revelation. 

5. The Nature of Revelation. 

§ 26. The Necessity, Possibility, and Actuality of Supernatural 
Revelation. 

1. The Necessity of Supernatural Revelation. 

2. Its Possibility. 

3. The Relation of Reason and Revelation. 

4. The Actuality and Truth of Revelation. 
§ 27. God as the Absolute Personality. 

1. The Question of the Knowableness of God. 

2. The Definition of the Absolute and of Personality. 

3. The Personality of God. 

4. Pantheism and Theism. 

5. The History of the Notion of God apart from the Bib- 

lical one. ' 

6. The Biblical Notion of God . 

7. The Churchly Theology. 
28. God as Holy Love. 

1. God as Essential Goodness. 



138 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

2. God as Perfect Holiness. 

3. God as Tender Love. 

§ 29. The Doctrine of the Divine Attributes. 

1. The Definition of the Divine Attributes, and of their Rela- 

tion to the Divine Essence. 

2. Manner of Determining the Attributes. 

3. Division of the Attributes. 

4. The Particular Attributes. 

§ 30. The Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity. 

1. The Doctrine of The Old Testament. 

2. The Doctrine of the New Testament. 

1) The self-witness of Jesus. 

2) The Apostolic Declarations. 

3) The New Testament Doctrine of the Holy Ghost. 

4) The Co-ordination of the Three Persons. 
§ 31. The Church Doctrine of the Trinity. 

1. The History of the Doctrine. 

2. The Dogmatic Formulation. 

3. Explanatory Analogies and Scientific Deductions. 

4. Attacks upon the Church Doctrine of the Trinity. 
§ 32. Doctrine of the Decree of God, or of Predestination. 

1. The Scripture Doctrine. 

2. The Church Doctrine. 
§ 33. The Doctrine of Creation. 

1. Biblical Account of Creation. 

2. Definition of Creation. 

3. The Essential Dogmatic Determinations. 
§ 34. The Doctrine of Providence. 

1. Transcendence and Immanence. 

2. The Certainty of Providence. 

3. The Definition of Providence. 

4. The Object of Providence. 

5. The Form of Providence. 

6. The Aim of Providence. 

7. Antitheses to the true Doctrine. 
§ 35. The Doctrine of Miracles. 

1. Miracles of Scripture. 

2. Miracles in the Church. 

3. Definition of Miracles. 

4. The Possibility of Miracles. 

5. The Necessity of Miracles. 

6. The Actuality of Miracles. 



THE DISPOSITION OF DOGMATICS. 139 

7. The Divisions of Miracles. 
§ 36. The Doctrine of Angels. 

1. The Scripture Doctrine. 

2. The Church Doctrine. 

3. Modern Criticism. 

§ 37. The Doctrine concerning Satan. 

1. The Scripture Doctrine. 

2. The Church Doctrine. 

3. Modern Criticism. 

PART II. 

Anthropologic! or the Doctrine of Man (§ 38 — 44). 

§ 38. Man. 

1. Creation of Man. 

2. The Essential Constituents of Man. 

3. The Unity of the Human Race. 

4. The Propagation of the Soul. 
§ 39. The Original Condition of Man. 

1. The Scripture Doctrine. 

2. The Church Doctrine. 
§ 40. The Fall. 

1. The Biblical Account. 

2. The Historical Actuality of the Fall. 

3. Attempts to explain away the Historical Facts. 
§ 41. Original Sin. 

1. The Scripture Doctrine. 

2. The Church Doctrine. 

3. Modern Criticism. 

§ 42. The Essential Character of Sin. 

1. The Scripture Doctrine. 

2. The Church Doctrine. 
§ 43. Actual Sins. 

1. General Definition of Sins of Act. 

2. Divisions of Sins of Act. 

§ 44. Moral Bondage, or the Doctrine of Free Will. 

1. The Scripture Doctrine. 

2. The Church Doctrine. 

PART III. 
Christologia or the Doctrine of the Person of Christ (§45 — 51). 

§ 45. The Historical Preparation for Salvation. 

1. Beginning of the History of Divine Revelation. 



140 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

2. The Heathen World. 

3. Israel. 

§ 46. The Postulate of the divine-human Mediator. 

1. The Necessity of the Atonement. 

2. The Ground of the Incarnation. 

3. The Person of Christ. 

§ 47. The Keality and the Integrity of the Two Natures of Christ. 

1. The Scripture Doctrine. 

2. The Church Doctrine. 
§ 48. The God-Man. 

1. The Scripture Doctrine. 

2. The Historical Unfolding of the Church Doctrine. 

§ 49. Doctrine of the Dogmaticians concerning the God-Man. 

1. Unitio or Incarnation. 

2. The Personal Union. 

3. The Communion of Natures. 

4. The Personal Propositions. 

5. The Communicatio Idiomatum. 

1) Genus Idiomaticum. 

2) Genus Majestaticnm. 

3) Genus Apotelesmaticum. 
§ 50. The Humiliation of Christ. 

2. The Scripture Doctrine. 
2. The Church Doctrine. 
§ 51. The Modern Development of the Christological Dogma. 

PAKT IV. 
Soteriologia or the Doctrine of the Work of Christ (§52—56). 

§ 52. The Mediatorial Office of Christ. 

1. Jesus is the Mediator. 

2. The three-fold Office of Christ. 
§ 53. The Prophetic Office. 

1. The Scripture Doctrine. 

2. The Church Doctrine. 

§ 54. The Scripture Doctrine of the Atonement. 

1. The Testimony of the Universal Human Moral Conscious- 

ness. 

2. The Old Testament Doctrine concerning Sacrifice. 

3. The Utterances of the Gospel in regard to the Sufferings ol 
Christ. 

4. The Utterances of the Apostles. 



THE DISPOSITION OF DOGMATICS. 141 

§ 55. The Church Doctrine of the Atonement. 

1. The Ancient Church. 

2. The Church of the Middle Ages. 

3. The Reformation. 

4. The Dogmaticians of the Seventeenth Century. 

5. Further History of the Dogma. 
§ 56. The Regal Office. 

1. The Descent into Hell. 

2. The Resurrection of Christ. 

3. The Ascension to Heaven. 

4. The Sitting at the Right Hand of the Father. 

5. The Intercession. 

6. The Kingdom of Christ. 

PAKT Y. 
Pneumatologia or the Doctrine of the Work of the Holy 
Spirit (§ 57-66). 

§ 57. The Arrangement of the Material. 
§ 58. The Grace of the Holy Spirit. 

1. The Scripture Doctrine. 

2. The Church Doctrine. 
§ 59. The Calling or Vocation. 

1. The Scripture Doctrine. 

2. The Church Doctrine. 
§ 60. Illumination. 

1. The Scripture Doctrine. 

2. The Church Doctrine. 
§ 61. Conversion. 

1. The Scripture Doctrine. 

2. The Church Doctrine. 
§ 62. Repentance. 

1. The Scripture Doctrine. 

2. The Church Doctrine. 
§ 63. Faith. 

1. The Scripture Doctrine. 

2. The Church doctrine. 
§ 64. Justification. 

1. The Scripture Doctrine. 

2. The Church Doctrine. 

§ 65. Regeneration and the Mystical Union. 

1. The Scripture Doctrine. 

2. The Church Doctrine. 



142 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

§ 66. Sanctiflcation, Renovation, Good Works. 

1. The Church Doctrine. 

2. The Scripture Doctrine. 

PAKT VI. 
Ecclesiologia or the Doctrine Concerning the Church 
(§ 67-74). 
§ 67. The Essential Character and Attributes of the Church. 

1. The Scripture Doctrine. 

2. The Church Doctrine. 

3. The later Development of the Doctrine of the Church. 
§ 68. The Holy Scriptures. 

1. The Testimony of Scripture to itself. 

2. The Church Doctrine. 

1) The Ancient Catholic Church. 

2) The Church of the Middle Ages. 

3) The Roman Catholic Church. 

4) The Protestant Church. 

5) The Doctrine of the Dogmaticians. 

6) The more recent Development of the Doctrine con- 
cerning The Holy Scriptures. 

§ 69. The Means of Grace. 

1. The Scripture Doctrine. 

2. The Church Doctrine. 
§ 70. The Word of God. 

1. The Scripture Doctrine. 

2. The Church Doctrine. 
§ 71. Baptism. 

1. The Scripture Doctrine. 

2. The Church Doctrine. 

1) The Ancient Catholic Church. 

2) The Church of the Middle Ages. 

3) The Protestant Church. 
§ 72. The Lord's Supper. 

1. The Scripture Doctrine. 

2. The Church Doctrine. 

1) The Ancient Church. 

2) The Church of the Middle Ages and The Roman 
Catholic Church. 

3) The Reformation. 

4) The Dogmaticians. 

5) Modern Criticism of the Doctrine. 



THE DISPOSITION OF DOGMATICS. 143 

§ 73. The Sacraments. 

1. The Ancient Catholic and Roman Church. 

2. Protestantism. 

'6. Appendix: The Sacraments so-called of the Roman. 
Church. 
§ 74. The Doctrine of the Ministry. 

1. The Scripture Doctrine. 

2. The Church Doctrine. 

PART VII. 
Eschatologia or the Doctrine of the Last Things (§ 75 — 79)^ 

§ 75. Life after Death. Immortality. 

1. The Testimony of the Universal Human Consciousness. 

2. The Scripture Doctrine concerning the State after Death.. 

3. The Church Doctrine. 

§ 76. The Second Coming of Christ. 

1. The Conversion of the Gentiles. 

2. Antichrist. 

3. The Second Coming of Christ. 

•4. The so-called Reign of a Thousand Years. Chiliasm. 
§ 77. The General Resurrection. 

1. The Scripture Doctrine. 

2. The Church Doctrine. 

§ 78. The final Judgment and the End of the World. 

1. The Scripture Doctrine. 

2. The Church Doctrine. 

§ 79. Eternal Life and Eternal Death. 

1. The Scripture Doctrine. 

2. The Church Doctrine. 

IV. THE HISTORY OF DOGMATICS. 

§ 15. The Dogmatics of the Ancient Church. 
The Theology of the Ancient Church was in- 
fluenced by the prevailing philosophy of portions 
of the Church. It is the patristic theology, and 
so far from possessing the unity which is claimed 
for it by those who desire to give it an undue 
authority, it is for its range the most diversified 



144 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

and conflicting, in manifold respects, of all the 
theologies of the various eras. 

7. THE APOSTOLIC FATHERS. 

We cannot properly speak of a theology of the Apos- 
tolical Fathers 1 (Clement of Koine, Author of Epistle 
to Diognetus, Polycarp, Ignatius, Barnabas, Papias) 
for they preserve and continue the Apostolic tradition, 
making continual reference to the oral preaching of the 
Apostles. The Apologists 2 of the second century (Justin 
Martyr, IrenaBus, Tatian, Theophilus,andAthenagoras) 
through their writings, by their refutation of the slan- 
ders of Jews and Gentiles, by their vindication of the 
truths of the Gospel and their attack of the errors and 
voices of idolatry, prepared the way for the speculations 
of the Alexandrian School, whose chief representatives are 
Clement of Alexandria and Origen. 

2. THE ORIENTAL CHURCH. 

1 . The School of Alexandria. 

1) Clement of Alexandria* (d. about 220) after Justin 

i Of the three well-known editions of the original 1) Jacobson' 
2) Hefele, 3) Gebhardt, Harnack, Zahn, the last is the most complete. 
For practical purposes the abridged edition of Lightfoot's "Apostolic 
Fathers" is the best. (1 vol. $4.00). On monographs, Lightfoot's 
Clement of Rome (2 vols.) and Ignatius and Polycarp (3 vols., 1885) are 
superior to anything that has ever been attempted before. They are 
commentaries, containing a revised Greek text, introductions, notes 
and dissertations. 

The best English translation and most accessible is the one found 
in vol. 1. of the Ante-Nicene Fathers, published by "The Christain 
Literature Publishing Co.," 1885. 

Compare also Church Histories of Schaff, Hase, Neander, and 
Kurtz, and Donaldson's Apostolical Fathers, London, 1874. 

2 For Bibliography of separate authors see Richardson's Bibli- 
ographical Synopsis to Ante-Nicene Fathers (Christian Literature Com- 
pany, 1887). For students we would especially recommend Gfilders- 
leve's edition of the Apologies of Justin Martyr, and March's edition 
of Athenagoras, published by Harper & Bros., in the Douglass series 
of Christian, Greek a-id Latin writers. 

3 To avoid burdening our pages with so many references, we 
here once for all call attention to the Encyclopaedias and works of 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE ANCIENT CHURCH. 145 

Martyr and Irenaeus, may be regarded as the founder of 
Christian literature. He became the successor of Pan- 
taenus in the Catechetical School of Alexandria (after 
180 a. d.), and had Origen for his pupil, who succeeded 
him in 202 a. d. Cyril of Alexandria (cf. 444) calls 
Clement "a man admirably learned and skilful, one that 
searched to the depths all the learning of the Greeks, 
with an exactness rarely attained beforehand Eusebius 
(cf. 340) praises him as an "incomparable master of 
Christian philosophy." His works are full of quota- 
tions from the older Greek authors. He aims to harmo- 
nize Greek philosophy and Christianity, and seeks to 
guide his readers from faith (pistis) to knowledge (gnosis) 
by the aid of philosophy. 

His three great works 1) The Exhortation to the 
Greeks, 2) The Instructor, and 3) The Miscellanies or Stromata, 
are really parts of one whole system, representing three 
progressive stages in a systematic teaching of Christian- 
ity, and are among the most valuable remains of 
Christian antiquity. 

These three works were composed by him during his 
residence as a teacher in Alexandria, and in his "Exhor- 
tation," which is a work on Apologetics, he points out 
the unreasonableness and immorality of heathenism ; 
in his "Instructor" or "Educator," which is a work on 
reference, which are of especial value to the student in the study of 
the lives, views, and writings of the different writers, theologians, 
and dograaticians which are mentioned in this brief outline, and 
which have been more or less used in the preparation of these notes. 

The Encyclopaedias of Plitt-Hauck-Herzog, Schaff-Herzog, Alexan- 
■der-Kitto, Johnson, McClintock-Strong, Smith- Wace, Encyclopaedia 
Britannica, etc.; the Church Histories of Schaff, Hase, Neander, Kurtz, 
Eobertson, Hagenbach, Herzog, Gieseler, Guericke, Hardwick, Mil- 
man, Mosheim, Neale, etc.; among the works on History of Doctrines 
and of Dogmatics we would mention the works of Kliefoth, Thomasius, 
Harnoch, Xeander, Frank, Dorner, Hagenbach, H. Schmid, Shedd, 
Crippen, Harnack, etc. 

We will refer in our foot-notes to special monographs, and to the 
more important works bearing on the topic or person under consid- 
eration. 



146 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

Ethics, he unfolds Christian morality, with constant 
reference to heathen practices; his "Miscellanies," a 
work of a dogmatical character, aims to furnish the 
material for the construction of a Christian philosophy 
on the basis of faith. This last work, though written 
carelessly, is a storehouse of immense learning. Though 
his writings are rich in brilliant thoughts, abounding 
in passages of power and beauty, he often repeats him- 
self and is lacking in clear, fixed method. 

Schaff: "His theology is not a unit, but a confused 
eclectic mixture of Christian elements with many Stoic,. 

Platonic, and Philonic ingredients His ethical 

principles are those of the Hellenic philosophy, inspired 
by the genius of Christianity." 

Though Clement has never been branded with heresy 
like Origen, still "in his utterances concerning the Son r 
the Philonic wavering between the theory of subordina- 
tion and Modalism is not fully overcome" (Ueberweg) 1 , 
and his exegesis of Scripture was cast in the same fan- 
tastic allegorical mould as that of Origen, his pupil and 
successor. 

2) Origen 2 (d. 254) was the greatest scholar of all 
the Ante-Mcene Fathers, but he was by no means or- 
thodox, either in the Roman Catholic or Protestant 
sense. It is in his early dogmatic work De Principiis r 
i. e. on the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith,, 
that he lays himself open to charges of false doctrine. 

This work of Origen is divided into four books : in 
the first, he treats of God, of Christ, of the Holy Ghost, 
of angels ; in the second book, of the creation of the 
world, of the incarnation of Christ, of the soul, of the 

i See his History of Philosophy, vol. 1. pp. 311—315 for a careful 
estimate of Clement as a philosopher and a theologian. 

2 For an ^English translation of his De Principiis and Contra 
Celsum. see Coxe's edition of the Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 4, pp. 
223—669. 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE ANCIENT CHURCH. 147 

resurrection, of judgment, of punishment; in the third, 
of the freedom of the will, of sin, of the end of the world; 
in the fourth, of the inspiration of the Scriptures, their 
authority and interpretation, together with a summary 
of the doctrine of the Trinity, and of various other doc- 
trines. 

This was the first attempt to set forth a complete 
system of dogmatics, and is full of Platonizing and 
gnosticising errors, some of which Origen retracted in 
his later years. 

The points on which Origen departed from the or- 
thodox faith are mainly these : 

1) His doctrine that the souls of men had previously 
existed, and that their imprisonment in material bodies 
was a punishment for sins which they had then com- 
mitted : 

2) His doctrine that the human soul of Christ had 
also previously existed and been united to the Divine 
nature before the Incarnation. 

3) His doctrine of an eternal creation ; 

4) His denial of a material resurrection ; 

5) His doctrine of an universal restoration, that 
the work of redemption extends to the inhabitants of 
the stars, and that all men, the evil angels, and Satan 
himself, shall be finally restored ; 

6) Although he was the first to teach expressly the 
eternal generation of the Son, yet in the great Christo- 
logical controversies of the fourth century the Arians 
(heteroousios), the Semi- Arians (homoiousios) and the 
Athanasians (homoousios), all equally regarded Origen as 
on their side. 

In this treatise De Principiis his principles of inter- 
preting Scripture are also brought out, and although 
Origen may be regarded as the father of critical investi- 
gation of Scripture, and his greatest service was in 



148 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

exegesis, nevertheless his principles of exposition, though 
put forth by him in a devout spirit and with many cau- 
tions, have a tendency to subvert belief in the historical 
truth of Scripture. 

Schaff: "His great defect is the neglect of the gram- 
matical and historical sense and his constant desire to 
find a hidden mystic meaning. He eveu goes further in 
this direction than the Gnostics, who everywhere saw 
transcendental, unfathomable mysteries. His hermen- 
eutical principle assumes a three-fold sense — literal, 
moral, and spiritual. His allegorical interpretation is 
ingenious, but often runs away from the text and de- 
generates into the merest caprice; while at times it 
gives way to the opposite extreme of a carnal literalism, 
by which he justifies his ascetic extravagance." 

The treatise of Origen Against Celsus is a defence of 
Christianity in opposition to a Greek philosopher named 
Celsus, and is one of the ripest and most valuable of his 
productions. It was written in his old age (about 248) 
and is composed with care, and shows evidence of the 
widest learning. As the work is in stricter harmony with 
the orthodox teaching of the Church, it is only fair that 
we should judge Origen rather from the standpoint of 
his more mature work, than from his youthful produc- 
tion De Principiis. 

2. The New Alexandrian School. 

This school sincerely respected the memory of Origen, 
and in part followed in his footsteps in their speculative 
treatment of Christian doctrine. But they avoided his 
unbiblical errors, and simply consistently carried out 
what was sound in his teaching. Keeping clear of all 
Subordinationism the theologians of this school agreed 
more fully with the teachings of the divines of the 
Western Church. Its leading and most orthodox repre- 
sentatives were Athanasius, the three great Cappadoci- 



THE DOGMATICS OF THK ANCIENT CHURCH. 149 

ans, Gregory Nazianzen, Basil the Great, and Gregory of 
Nyssa, and Didymus the Blind. The leaven of error again 
appeared in Cyril of Alexandria, although he was still re- 
garded as orthodox. We may also, in this connection, 
refer to the Catecheses of Cyril of Jerusalem. 

1) Athanasius* (d. 373) is the theological centre of 
the Nicene age. The history of his life is the history of 
the Church during that period. The "father of ortho- 
doxy," he is, on the whole, one of the purest and most 
imposing characters in the history of the Church, and 
no one of the Eastern Church fathers enjoyed so high 
consideration in the Western Church as Athanasius. His 
name is inseparable from the conflicts and the triumph 
of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. Dr. Schaff 2 has well 
said : "He was (and there are few such) a theological 
and churchly character in magnificent, antique style. 
He was a man of one mould and one idea. ... St. Paul 
lived and labored for Christ crucified, Gregory vn. for 
the Roman hierarchy, Luther for the doctrine of justifi- 
cation by faith, Calvin for the idea of the sovereign 
grace of God. It was the passion and the life-work of 
Athanasius to vindicate the deity of Christ, which he 
rightly regarded as the corner-stone of the edifice of the 
Christian faith, and without which he could conceive no 
redemption." 

He was present at the Council of Nicsea (325), and 
distinguished himself there by his zeal and ability in 
refuting Arianism and vindicating the eternal deity of 
Christ,— to which he devoted his whole future life. In 
328 he succeeded Alexander as bishop of Alexandria, 
which office he held for forty-five years, during which 

i The Select works and Letters of Athanasius are reprinted in vol. 
4 of Second Series of The Nicene and Post- Nicene Fathers. New York, 
1892. 

2 In his History of the Christian Church, vol. 3, p. 890. 



150 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

period lie was ten times banished, and passed twenty 
years in exile, mainly in the West. 

His writings are mainly directed against Arianism, 
but his stormy life prevented him from composing a 
large systematic work. Among his dogmatic and con- 
troversial works in defence of the Nicene faith especially 
noteworthy are the Four Orations against the Arians (358), 
the Four Epistles to Serapion on the Deity of the Holy 
Spirit (358), and two books Against Apollinaris, in defence 
of the full humanity of Christ. 

2) Gregory Nazianzen 1 (d. 390), the Theologian (in 
the narrow sense of the word as the defender of the 
deity of the Logos), though inferior to his bosom friend 
Basil as a church ruler, aud to Gregory of Nyssa as a 
speculative thinker, was superior to both as an orator, 
and with the exception perhaps of Chrysostom, was the 
greatest orator of the Greek Church. His life, with its 
alternations of high station, monastic seclusion, love of 
severe studies, enthusiasm for poetry, nature, and 
friendship is intensely interesting (Schaff). 

Gass 2 -. In christology Gregory opposed Arianism 
and Apollinarianism ; in anthropology he teaches orig- 
inal sin, and derives the mortality of man from the fall. 
But he held to the ability of the human will to choose 
the good, and to the co-operation of man with God in 
salvation (influenced by Origen). 

3) Basil the Great 3 (Bishop of Caesarea in Cappa- 

i See Carl Oilman: Gregorius von Nazianz, der Theologe. Darm- 
stadt, 1825. Translated (in part) by G. F. Cox. London, 1H57. 
His most important dogmatic writings are his Five Theological Ora- 
tions in defence of the Nicene doctrine against the Ennomians and 
Macedonians, delivered in Constantinople, and republished and 
edited by Goldhorn, in the second volume of Thilo's BibliothecaTatrum 
Graecorum Dogmatica. Leipsie, 1854. English translation in vol. 7 of 
Second Series of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. New York, 1894. 

2 In Schaff Herzog's Encyclopaedia. 

3 His most important dogmatic works (Five Books against 
Eunomius, written in 361, in defence of the deity of Christ, and his 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE ANCIENT CHUKCH. 151 

docia 370—379) had all the advantages of Christian 
training and classical and philosophical culture. His 
life, which is more interesting than a romance, was an 
illustration of strong faith, of self-denying love, of high 
aims, and of royal dignity. Schaff 1 : "Basil is distin- 
guished as a pulpit orator and as a theologian, and 
still more as a shepherd of souls and a church ruler ; 
and in the history of monasticism he holds a conspicuous 
place. In classical culture he yields to none of his con- 
temporaries, and is justly placed with the two Gregories 
among the very first writers among the Greek fathers." 

At first, fearing Sabellianism, he belonged to the 
middle party (the Homoiousians) in the the great con- 
flict between Arianism and Orthodoxy, but the perse- 
cutions of the Arians drove him to a positive confession 
of the Nicene faith, and it was by the power of his spirit 
and faith he preserved the Eastern Church during the 
frightful persecutions inflicted by Yalens, the Arian. 

4) Gregory of Nyssa 2 [d. about 395 J, the }~oungest 
of the three Cappadocians and the brother of Basil the 
Great, was the profoundest theologian of the three, and 
excelled his two friends in philosophic acumen and 
scientific attainments. Schaff*: "Gregory did lasting- 
service in the vindication of the mystery of the Trinity 
and the Incarnation, and in the accurate distinction be- 
tween essence and hypostasis. Of all the church teach- 
ers of the Nicene age he is the nearest to Origen. He not 

work On the Holy Spirit, written in 375, to Amphilochius, at his re- 
quest) were republished, edited by Goldhorn, in the second volume 
of Thilo's Bibliotheca Patrum Graecorum Dogmatica. Leipsic, 1854. 

i In his Church History, vol. 3, p. 902. 

2 A selection of his most important writings, in the original 

Greek, together with a German translation, has been published by 

Franz Oehler in his Bibliofhek der Kirchenvater. vols 1—4. Leipsic, 1858 

. — 59. An English translation oi his select writings and letters has 

been published by the Christain Literature Co., New York, 189.'}. 

3 Church History vol. 3, p. 907—8. 



152 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

only follows his sometimes utterly extravagant allegor- 
ical method of interpretation, but even to a great extent 
falls in with his dogmatic views. With him, as with 
Origen, human freedom plays a great part. Both are 
idealistic, and sometimes, without intending it or know- 
ing it, fall into contradiction with the Church doctrine, 
especially in eschatology. Gregory adopts, for example, 
the doctrine of the final restoration of all things." 

Ueberweg 1 : "In his scientific method Gregory fol- 
lows Origen ; but he adopted the doctrine of the latter, 
only in so far as it agreed with the orthodox dogmas. 
He combats expressly such theories as the pre-existence 
of the soul before the body, and deviates from the ap- 
proved faith of the Church only in his leaning toward 
the theory of a final restoration of all things to com- 
munion with God." 

5) Didymus called "the Blind" (</. 395), though he 
lost his sight at the age of four, by his extraordinary 
industry acquired an extensive learning. He became so 
familiar with the Holy Scriptures by hearing them read , 
that he knew them almost by heart. Athanasius ap- 
pointed him as a teacher in the catechetical school of 
Alexandria where he labored successfully for more than 
fifty years. Jerome, Rufinus, Isidore, Evagrius, and 
others were among his pupils. Though he was orthodox 
in the doctrine of the Trinity, and a zealous opponent of 
Arianism, still being an enthusiastic admirer of Origen, 
he shared some of the extravagant views of that Father, 
especially concerning the pre-existence of souls and 
probably concerning final restoration. 

Of his many works only few have been preserved. Of 
his dogmatic writings, we possess, however, a Latin 
translation by Jerome of his treatise "On the Holy 

1 See his History of Philosophy, vol. 1, p. 326. (A work which 
caimot be too highly recommended.) 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE ANCIENT CHURCH. 153 

Ghost," and three books "On the Trinity," in the Greek 
original, together with a brief treatise against the Ma- 
niclneans, also in the original Greek. 

6) Cyril of Alexandria (d. 444) furnishes a striking" 
proof that orthodoxy and piety are two quite different 
things, and that zeal for pure doctrine may co-exist 
with an unchristian spirit (Schaff). And still with all 
his personal faults, Cyril must be reckoned among the 
greatest dogmaticians of the Greek Church. His Christ- 
ological writings against Xestorius and Theodoret are 
of the greatest importance to the history of doctrine. 
Among his writings we may mention his "Five Books 
against Nestorrus," and a doctrinal work "On the 
Trinity and the Incarnation." 

7) Cyril of Jerusalem (d. 386) took an active part in 
the Arian controversy, and at the second oecumenical 
council held at Constantinople, 381, he received the 
praise of having suffered much from the Arains for the- 
faith. He left us an important theological work 1 , the 
first example of a popular compend of religion, Avhich is 
of great value for the study of the history of doctrine,, 
and for the true understanding of the liturgy and cate- 
chetical methods of the Early Church. 

3. The last Theologian of the Greek Church. 

1) John of Damascus 2 (d. 754) is the last of the Greek 
Fathers, and the most authoritative theologian in the 
Eastern Church. In his famous work "The Fount of 
Knowledge," he gives us an epitome of the theology of the 

i His 2 '3 Catecheses. or catechetical lectures, which he delivered 
while still a presbyter, about the year 3-47, in preparing a class of 
catechumens for baptism. We have this work complete in the Greek 
original, and it has been translated into German and English. See 
vol. 7 of the Second Series of The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. New 
York, 1894. 

2 SeeLangen: Johannes von Damaskus. Pp. vm, 311. Gotha. 1879; 
also Lupton: St. John of Damascus. London, 1882. 



154 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

Greek Church. This work consists of three separate 
books. In the first book, called "Heads of Philosophy," 
in a series of short chapters, we have an application of 
the Categories of Aristotle to theology, — a work which 
is v.aluable mainly on account of the light it throws 
upon the terminology of the Church of that period. In 
the second part, "On Heresies," we have a description 
of one hundred and three heresies, compiled mostly from 
Epiphanius. The third part is the most important of 
all— "An accurate Exposition of the most Orthodox 
Faith." In this part he systematically arranges and 
presents the various doctrines or dogmas as propound- 
ed by the Councils and the Church Fathers, especially 
as presented by the three great Cappadocians. This last 
part, as Ave now have it, is divided into four books : I. 
Theology proper. (Here John of Damascus maintains 
the Greek Church doctrine of the single procession of the 
Holy Spirit). II. Creation, Anthropology, Providence, 
Predestination. III. Incarnation. IV. Person of Christ, 
States of Christ, Faith, Baptism, the Eucharist, Images, 
the Scriptures, Virginity, Circumcision, Antichrist, Resur- 
rection, etc. 

John of Damascus has been called the "Father of 
Scholasticism" and "the Lombard of the Greeks," and 
in a certain sense he was the forerunner of the Scholas- 
ticism of the Middle Ages. 

3. THE WESTERN CHURCH. 

The Theologians of the Western Church were dis- 
tinguished by their firm adherence to the Bible, their 
strong faith, their practical tendency in contraclistic- 
tion to the speculations of the Alexandrian School, and 
for their bold stand against Gnosticism and all kinds of 
heresies. 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE ANCIENT CHURCH. 155 

7. To the Death of Augustine. 
Among the most influential of the Western Church 
Fathers of this period, whose writings are mainly of a 
dogmatic character, we mav mention Irenceus, Tertullian, 
Cyprian, Hilary, Ambrose, and Augustine. 

1) Irenceus 1 (d. 202) spent his youth in Asia Minor, 
was instructed by the venerable Polycarp of Smyrna, 
the pupil of St. John. After 178 he was bishop of Lyons 
in France. 

Schaff 2 : "Irenaeus is the leading representative of 
Catholic Christianity in the last quarter of the second 
-century, the champion of orthodoxy against gnostic 
heresy, and the mediator between the Eastern and 
Western Churches. He is the first of all the church 
teachers to give a careful analysis of the work of re- 
demption, and his view is by far the deepest and sound- 
est we find in the first three centuries. On the whole, 
he is the most orthodox of the Ante-Nicene Fathers. We 
must however except his Eschatology." 

It was during the early years of his episcopate at 
Lyons that Irena?us wrote, in Greek, his important 
work "Against Heresies/' in five books. The full title is 
"A Refutation and Subversion of Knowledge falsely so 
called," and "is at once the polemic theological master- 
piece of the Ante-Nicene age, and the richest mine of in- 
formation respecting Gnosticism and the Church doc- 
trine of that age." 

2) Tertullian* (d. 220) is the father of the Latin 

1 Best edition of his works by Harvey in 2 vols. Cambridge, 1857. 
English translation in Coxe's edition of Ante-Nicene Fathers. Compare 
alsoBeaven: Life and Writings of Irenaeus. London, 1841; Duncker: 
Des heil. Irenaeus Christologie. Goettingen, 1843. 

2 See his Church History, vol. 2, pp. 750, 587. 

3 Best edition of his works by Oehler in three vols. 1853 — 54. 
For students we would especially recommend March : Select Works of 
Tertullian. New York, 1876. (Contains Ad Marty res. De testmionio 
^nimae, Apologeticus, Ad Scapulam, and De spectaculis). English Trans- 



156 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

ecclesiastical language, and one of the greatest of the 
Christian Fathers. As a heathen, he distinguished him- 
self as an advocate and rhetorician. He was converted 
when he was about fourty years of age. His zeal in favor 
of strict asceticism and against every kind of world- 
liness, led him to become a Montanist, about 201, when 
about fifty years of age. In developing his Christian 
theology, he was influenced by the judicial habit of 
mind resulting from his previous legal studies, while, in 
defending it, he employed that peculiar eloquence which 
had characterized him as an advocate. 

Kurtz: "Although trained in heathen lore, Tertul- 
lian was fanatically opposed to it, and equally so to 
Gnosticism. His peculiar mode of thinking and feeling, 
the energy of his will, the ardor of his affections, his 
powerful imagination, his tendency toward the strict- 
est asceticism, and his predilection for realism, found 
full scope for development in Montanism. If, withal, he 
kept free from many aberrations of Montanism, this 
must be ascribed to his clear understanding and, how- 
ever much he may have despised it, to his thorough 
scientific training." 

Schaff: "Tertullian's theology revolves about the 
great Pauline antithesis of sin and grace, and breaks 
the road to the Latin anthropology and soteriology, 
afterward developed by his like-minded, but clearer, 
calmer, and mOre considerate countryman, Augustine." 

The writings of Tertullian (as classified by Neander) 

are 1) partly apologetic, addressed to the heathens, and 

relating to the conduct of the Christians under persecu- 

lation in Coxe's edition of Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 3, pp 745, and vol.. 
4, pp. 1—126. For Monographs see Neander: Antignosticus. Geist des Ter- 
tullianus und Einleitung in dessen Schriften. Second edition, Berlin, 1849. 
Translated into English by Ryland in 2 vols. London, 1859. Kayer. 
Ecclesiastical History of second and third Centuries, illustrated from the 
writings of Tertullian. Third edition, London, 1845. Hauck: Tertullian's. 
Leben und Schriften. Pp. 410. Erlangen, 1877. 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE ANCIENT CHURCH. 157 

lion: 2) partly ethical or ascetic, and 3) partly dog- 
matic and polemical. They can also at the same time be 
arranged chronologically, i.e., some books were written 
before he became a Montanist (before 200—201 a. d.), 
some after this period. 

We, here, have only to do with the third class of 
writings. The principal dogmatic or polemical Ante- 
Montanistic work is the well-known treatise "On the 
Prescription of Heretics." In it Tertullian lays down 
the fundamental principle of the Church in dealing with 
heretics. 

Of the Montanistic writings of a dogmatic character 
we may especially mention his l 'Five Books against Marcion" 
in which he elaborately defends the unity of ( rod. the 
integrity of the Scriptures, and the harmony of the 
Old and the New Testaments. His tracts "On the Flesh 
of Christ," "On the Soul," "On the Resurrection of the Flesh" 
"Against Hermogenes," "Against Praxeas" are important to 
the history of Christian doctrine. 

Cardinal Newman calls Tertullian "the mosb power- 
ful writer of the early centuries." 

3) Cyprian 1 (d. 258), at first a heathen rhetorician, 
afterwards bishop of Carthage (248—258), was equally 
distinguished by a firm adherence to the idea of one, 
holy, visible Church, and by zeal, faithfulness, vigor, 
and prudence in the administration of his duties. 

Schaff: "As Origan was the ablest scholar, and 
Tertullian the strongest writer, so Cyprian was the 
greatest bishop of the third century. . . . His peculiar 

i Best critical edition of his works by Hartel in 3 vols. Vienna, 
1868 — 71. A convenient manual edition by Goldhorn is found in vols. 
2 and 3 (vm, 256; vm, 279) of Gersdorf's Bibliotheca Patrum ecclesias- 
ticorum Latinorum selecta. Leipsic, 1838 — 39. English Translation by 
Wallis, in Coxe's edition of the Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 5, pp.261— 596. 
Compare also Poole; Life and Times of Cyprian. Pp. 419. Oxford 1840. 
Benson: In Smith and Wace Diet. vol. 3, pp. 739—55; Rettberg : Cyprianus 
dargestellt nach seinem Leben und Wirken. (xn, 399). Gottingen, 1831. 



ESTKODUCTIOK TO DOGMATIC THEOLOC I . 

importance falls not so much in the field of theology. 

where he lacks originality and depth, as iu Church or- 
ganization and discipline He is the typical high 

churchman of the Ante- Nicene Age He knew how 

to combine strictness and moderation, dignity and 
gentleness, and to inspire love and confidence, as well as 
esteem and veneration." 

The most important works of Cyprian relate to 
practical questions on church government and dis- 
cipline, such as "The Unity of the Church:' "On the Lapsed," 
"On Works and Alms," etc. 

4) Hilary of Poitiers'- yd. 368), so named from his 
birthplace and subsequent bishopric in southwestern 
France, was the Athanasius of the west. 

Semisch-: "He shone like a clear star alongside of 
the great champions of the Nicene Creed.— Athanasius. 
Basil, and the two Gregories. Among the teachers of 
the West of his day he was beyond dispute the first: and 
bore a strong resemblance to Tertullian. both in dis- 
position and scientific method. . . . His distinguishing 
characteristics were fidelity to the Church creed, acute- 
nes& in argument, and resolution in action. His power 
lay essentially in his thorough acquaintance with the 
Scriptures. His Christ ology is full of fresh and inspiring 
thoughts, and deserves to be better known than it is." 

His writings are distinguished for deep and earnest 
discussions of dogmatic theology, and he greatly con- 
tributed to the settlement of the orthodox doctrine of 
the Trinity and of the Person of Christ. 

The great work of his life was the writing, in exile 

= —361). of his "Twelve Books on the Trinity," to which 

lie afterwards added various tracts against A nanism. 

Baltzer: Die Theologie des heil. Hilarius von Poitiers. Pp. 
oil. B ,1879. Ad Eugli>b translation may appear in Second 

?ion in The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. 
2 In Schaff-Herzog. 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE ANCIENT CHURCH. 159 

5) Ambrose (d. at Milan, 397) is famous as a great 
ecclesiastical leader, and is reckoned as one of the great 
Latin Fathers. He took a prominent part in the Arian 
controversy, and was one of the leaders on the orthodox 
side. As a writer, Ambrose is distinguished for his ser- 
mons, and his moral, ascetic, and dogmatic works. His 
dogmatic treatises, De Mysteriis, De Fide, and De Spiriiu 
Sancto, are based upon the writings of Basil. His ascetic 
views have often been misunderstood. In the Doctrine 
of God and in Christology his dogmatic position is that 
of the Council of Nice; in Anthropology he emphasizes 
the universal sinfulness of man ; and in Soteriology lays 
stress upon divine grace as the only source of salvation. 
He belongs, however, to the allegorical and mystical 
school of interpreters, and in this he goes further than 
even Origen. 

6) Augustine 1 (d. 430), for thirty-five years bishop 
of Hippo, a town lying 200 miles west of Carthage, 
was the intellectual head of the North African and the 
entire Western Church of his time. 

Schaff* "Augustine is a philosophical and theolog- 
ical genius of the first order, towering like a pyramid 
above his age, and looking down commandingly upon 
succeeding ages As a theologian he is facile prin- 

i For an English Translation of the works of Augustine see 
Schaffs edition of The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. First Series, 
volumes 1—8. This is by far the most valuable edition of Augustine's 
works ever published, on account of its valuable Introductions and 
Bibliographical notes. See especially Bindemann : Der heil. Augustinus. 
3 vols. (vol. i, Berlin, 1844; n, Leipsic, 1855: in, Greifswald, 1869). 
("The best work in German"). See also Cutts: St. Augustin. London, 
1880; Schaff in his St. Augustin, Melanchthon and Meander. New York, 
188G. 

On the theology of Augustine see Aug. Dorner: Augustinus, sein 
theol. System, etc. Berlin, 1873 ; and the same writer's article in Plitt- 
Herzog (abridged in Schaff-Herzog). Ueberweg's criticism of the 
Philosophy of Augustine, in his History of Philosophy (Vol. i, pp. 333 — 
346) is very suggestive. 

2 In his Church History, Vol. 3, pp. 994—999. 



J 60 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

ceps, at least surpassed by no church father, scholastic, 

or reformer He combined the creative power of 

Tertullian with the churchly spirit of Cyprian, the spec- 
ulative intellect of the Greek Church with the practical 
tact of the Latin. He was a Christian philosopher and 
a philosophical theologian to the full With pro- 
fundity he combined an equal clearness and sharpness of 
thought. He was an extremely skilful and a successful 
dialectician, inexhaustible in arguments and in answers 

to the objections of his adversaries In him was 

concentrated the whole polemic power of the Catholi- 
cism of the time against heresy and schism, and in him 
it won the victory over them." 

Bindemann 1 : "St. Augustine is one of the greatest 
personages in the Church. He is second in importance 
to none of the teachers who have wrought most in the 
Church since the Apostolic time; and it can well be said 
that among the Church Fathers the first place is due to 
him, and in the time of the reformation a Luther alone, 
for fulness and depth of thought and grandeur of char- 
acter, may stand by his side. He is the summit of the 
mediaeval Western Church; from him descended the 
mysticism, no less than the scholasticism, of the middle 
-ages; he was one of the strongest pillars of Roman Cath- 
olicism, and from his works, next to the Holy Script- 
ures, especially the Epistles of Paul, the leaders of the 
Reformation drew most of that conviction by which a 
new age was introduced." 

His writings bear upon almost all the departments 
of theology, and may be characterized as forming an 
era in theological literature. Of the different works of 
Augustine (1) Autobiographical, 2) Philosophical, 3) 
Apologetic, 4) Religious- Theological, 5) Polemic- Theo- 

i In the preface of his monograph on St. Augustine, already cited 
(quoted by Schaff). 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE ANCIENT CHURCH. 161 

logical, 6) Exegetical, and 7) Ethical and Practical) we 
liere have to do mainly with the fourth and fifth classes. 
Of his Religious-Theological works we would especially 
mention "Four Books on Christian Doctrine" (the best pa- 
tristic work on Biblical Hermeneutics), and "The En- 
chiridion" 1 or "On Faith, Hope, and Love" (a brief corn- 
pen d of Christian faith and morals, written at the re- 
quest of a certain Laurentius). 

But his Polemico-Theological works are the most 
important in the history of doctrine. These again may 
be subdivided (1) Anti-Manichasan, 2) Anti-Don atistic, 
3) Anti-Arian, 4) Anti-Pelagian). In the Anti-Man- 
ichsean writings 2 . Augustine treats of the origin of evil, 
of free will, of revelation and nature, of the author- 
ity of the Scriptures and the Church, etc. 

The Anti- Don atistic works 3 contain Augustine's 
doctrine of the Church, the Sacraments, and of Church- 
discipline. 

Of the Anti-Arian writings, which treat of the Deity 
of Christ, and of the Holy Ghost, the most important 
treatise is that on the "Holy Trinity " in fifteen books. 

"It is the most elaborate, and probably also the 
ablest and profound est patristic discussion of this cen- 
tral doctrine of the Christian religion, unless we except 
the "Orations against the Arians"by Athanasius, "The 

i Under the topic Faith he follows the order of the Apostles' Creed 
and refutes, without naming them, Manichgean, Apollinarian, Arian, 
and Pelagian heresies. Under Hope he explains The Lord's Prayer. 

2 A translation of the more important of these (On the Morals of 
the Catholic Church, On the Morals of the Manichaeans, On two Souls, Thirty- 
three books against Faustus the Manichaean, On the Nature of the Good, etc.) 

is given in vol. 4 (pp.1— 365) of Schaff's Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers 
^{ First Series.) 

3 Three ol the most important treatises (On Baptism, Answers to 
the Letters of Petilian, The Correction of the Donatists) are given in vol. 4 
»(pp. 367 — 675) of the work eited in the last note. 



162 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

Father of Orthodoxy," who devoted his life to the de- 
fense of the Divinity of Christ. Augustine bestowed 
more time and care upon it than on any other book, 
except "the City of God." 1 Bnt the most valuable of 
all the writings of Augustine were his Anti-Pelagian 
works. 2 All these were written after 412, and in them he 
develops his system of anthropology and soteriology, 
and most nearly approaches the position of Evangelical 
Protestantism. 

We cannot leave Augustine without referring to his 
great Apologetic work, "The City of God" in twenty- two 
books, the only Christian philosophy of history known 
for over a thousand years. "It is the master- piece of 
the greatest genius among the Latin Fathers, and the 
best known and read of his works except the 'Confes- 
sions'. It embodies the results of thirteen years of in- 
tellectual labor and study (413—426 A. d.). It is a 
vindication of Christianity against the attacks of the 
heathen in view of the sacking of the city of Kome by 
the barbarians It is the first attempt of a phil- 
osophy of history, under the aspect of two rival cities 
or communities, the eternal city of God and the perish- 
ing city of the world." 3 

The formal principle of the doctrinal system of Aug- 
ustine is the Authority of the Church, the material prin- 
ciple, the free redeeming Grace of God in Christ. 

i See Preface of vol. 3 of Schaff's Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers 
(First Series) which among- other important doctrinal treatises of 
Augustine, contains the translation of this work "On the Holy Trinity'* 
(pp. 1—228). 

2 The most important of these ("On the Spirit and the better'* 
(413 a. d.), "On Nature and Grace" (415), "On Grace and Free Will"' 
(426), On Discipline and Grace" (427), "On the Predestination of the 
Saints" (428), "On the Gift of Perseverance" (429), etc.) are given in 
Yol. 5 of Schaff's "Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers" (First Series).. 
pp. lxxi, 567. 

3 See Preface to Vol. 2 of Series just cited. 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE ANCIENT CHURCH. 163 

2. To the Close of the Ninth Century. 

1) Vincent of Lerins 1 (d. 450) a monk in the celebra- 
ted monastery of Lerinum(a small island in the Mediter- 
ranean Sea, formerly belonging to Eoman Gaul), in 
his famous book Commonitorium gives us the most com- 
plete representation of the Roman Catholic doctrine of 
tradition. As a test of true doctrine he propounded the 
maxim, which has since remained the standard in the 
Roman Catholic Church : "We must hold what has been 
everywhere, always, and by all believed." 2 This Avork also 
occupies a prominent place in the history of doctrines, 
for its Semi-Pelagian character and its antagonism to 
Augustine are clearly discernible. 

2) Gennadius of Marseilles {flourished 500 A. D.) a Semi- 
Pelagian presbyter of South Gaul, in his "De Fide mea 
sive dogmatibus ecclesiasticis" gives us a compend of 
Christian doctrine. 

3) Isidore (d. 636), bishop of Seville, in Spain, for 
thirty-six years, was the greatest scholar of his day. 
He wrote on nearly every branch of science then known. 
His most important theological work is a Compend of 
Theology compiled from Augustine and the "Moralia" 
of Gregory the Great, known under the title of "Senten- 
tiarum sive de Summo Bono Libri III." The first book 
treats of Dogmatics and the last two of Ethics. The 
influence of this work during the Middle Ages was very 
great, and innumerable copies were made of it, and it 
led to the preparation of similar works, like Peter Lom- 
bard's "Sentences." 

4) John Scotus Erigena 3 (d. about 877) was of 

i For a full analysis of his "Commonitorium" see Schmidt in 
first edition of Herzog's Real Encykl. 

2 "Utid teneamus quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus 
creditum est." 

3 Compare Th. Christlieb : Leben und Lehre des Joh. Scotus 
Erigena. Gotha, 1860; Ueberweg; History ot Philosophy. Vol. 1. pp. 
858-365. 



164 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

Scottish nationality, probably born and brought up in 
Ireland, but he spent his later life at the court of Charles 
the Bald of France. He was undoubtedly the most 
learned man, and the deepest, boldest, and most in- 
dependent thinker of his time. His speculations have 
not been surpassed for centures before or after him. 
In his own time he was neither understood nor appre- 
ciated, and scarcely deemed even worthy of being de- 
clared a heretic (Kurtz). 

His greatest work is his treatise "Z?e Divisione Nat- 
urae" 1 in five books, condemned to be burned by Pope 
Honorius III (1225) as u a book teemiug with the 
Avorms of heretical depravity," and still later put on 
the "Index" by a bull of Gregory XIII (1685). This 
is a kind of speculative theology, which, starting from 
the supposition of the unity of philosophy and theol- 
ogy, ends as a system of idealistic pantheism, philos- 
ophy having in the course of the development entirely 
absorbed theology. 

Scotus divides nature, in which conception he in- 
cludes all that is either existent or non-existent — into 
four species: 1) that which creates and is not created 
(God), 2) that which is created and creates (Logos), 
3) that which is created and does not create (World), 
and 4) that which neither is created nor creates. By 
this last is not meant a fourth nature, distinct from the 
other three, but God, viewed as the term in which all 
things end, and to which all finally return. 

In the controversy respecting predestination he 
taught that there was only one predestination, to eter- 
nal salvation. 

Scotus Erigena, sometimes, has been called "the 
Father of Scholasticism," but he is rather the founder 

i German Translation by L. Noack: "Erigena ueber die Ein- 
theilung der Natur." 3 pts. Leipsic, 187-4—7. 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 165 

of Speculative Philosophy in the line of Spinoza, Schell- 
ing, and especially Hegel. u The scholastics drew from 
him, but he was not a scholastic. The mystics drew 
from him, but he was not a mystic. . . ' . . He is one of 
the most interesting figures among the mediaeval writ- 
ers. He demands stud} 7 and he rewards it." 1 

5) Boethius 2 (beheaded at Pavia 525), one of the 
last Neo-Platonists of antiquity, through his ''Consola- 
tion of Philosophy", as also through his translation and 
exposition of some of the logical writings of Aristotle, 
became the most influential connecting link between 
ancient and mediseval learning. His "Consolatio" was 
very popular during the Middle Ages, and was translated 
into various languages (Greek, Old High German, Anglo- 
Saxon, Norman-English, French, Hebrew), but it is a 
question whether Boethius was a Christian. The work 
is but an echo of Greek philosophy, of the school of 
Plato or Seneca. 

§ 1 6. The Dogmatics of the Middle Ages. 

The Dogmatics of the Middle Ages was in- 
fluenced by Scholasticism and by the antithesis 
of Eealism and Nominalism. 

/. The Essential Character of Scholasticism 3 . 
Scholasticism was the reproduction of ancient philos- 
ophy under the control of ecclesiastical doctrine. In 
matters common to philosophy and theology, the lat- 
ter was received as the absolute norm and criterion of 

i See Schaff 's "Church History/, vol. 4, p. 773. 

2 See Fr. Nitzch: "Das System des Boethius unci die ihm zuges- 
chriebeuen theol. Schriften. Berlin, 1860. 

3 Compare Thomasius: Dogmengeschichte. Vol. 2. pp. 31—66; 
Ueberweg: History of Philosophy. Vol. 1. pp. 355—484; Hampden: The 
Scholastic Philosophy considered in its relation to Christian Philosophy. 3rd 
Edition. London, 1838. 



1 66 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

truth. Its fides praecedii iniellectum was uttered in the 
interest of the doctrines of a Church which claimed to be 
infallible. 

The Scholastics did not add new dogmas, nor alter 
them with respect to their essential contents. Having 
the materials for the formation of a doctrinal system of 
Christianity in the dogmas as formulated and fixed by 
the oecumenical councils of the Church, it was their task 
to gather these material, sift, arrange, preserve, and 
apply them. But it was also a treatment of these dog- 
mas. They sought to give to each doctrine a rational 
foundation, sufficient to elevate it from a mere matter 
of faith to a matter of science. They hoped to form the 
whole mass of dogmas into a perfect system. Some, in- 
deed, hoped to create a philosophy of Christianity, and 
to bring about a perfect unity between faith and sci- 
ence, theology and philosophy. They proceeded from 
the supposition that the whole contents of the Chris- 
tian faith, i. e. each single dogma or doctrine is ab- 
solute, divine truth, — but the warrant for this supposi- 
tion was not sought for in Scripture, nor in the essence of 
Christianity, nor in the nature of man (a favorite theory 
of so many modern philosophers), but in the authority 
of the Church and her tradition. 

With all the censure heaped in after times upon the 
barrenness of Scholastic speculation, it was wonderfully 
acute, and it has rich results to invite the scholar to a 
thorough acquaintance with it. 

The period of its highest bloom and most complete 
development was characterized by the thorough mas- 
tery of Aristotle and the ascendency of his authority in 
matters of philosophy. Aristotle came to be called 
"prcecursor Christi in naturalibus", just as John the Baptist 
was called "prcecursor Christi in gratuitis." 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 167 

The antithesis of Kealism and Nominalism influenced 
the whole history of the theology of the Middle Ages. 

Extreme Realism, the doctrine of Plato, maintained 
that universals or general ideas have an independent 
existence apart from individual objects, and that they 
exist before the latter (universalia ante rem, in God's 
mind); moderate Realism, the doctrine of Aristotle 
maintained that universals, while possessing indeed a 
real existence, exist only in individual objects (universalia 
in re, in things), and this view was the bond between 
theology and philosophy; Nominalism, on the other 
hand, maintained that only individuals have real 
existence, and that universals are merely the products 
of the human reason, nothing but a concept of man's 
mind (universalia post rem, in man's thoughts), and this 
last view separated the bond between theology and 
philosophy, and led to scepticism in spiritual matters. 

Of the earlier period, Augustine and Boethius were 
decided Realists; so also John Scotus Erigena of the 
ninth century. The great Realists of the eleventh and 
twelfth centuries were Anselm, William of Champeaux 
and Bernard of Clairvaux; of the thirteenth, Alexander 
of Hales, Bonaventura, Albertus Magnus, Thomas 
Aquinas and Duns Scotus. The chief Nominalists were 
Roscellinus and William of Occam. Abelard was a 
moderate Nominalist or Conceptualist. 

2. The Beginnings of Scholasticism. 

1) Anselm of Canterbury 1 (d. 1109), the father of 

orthodox scholasticism, the Augustine of the Middle 

Ages, was Archbishop of Canterbur}^ from 1093 to his 

death. He regarded faith as the necessary condition of 

all true knowledge, and defined the object of scholastic 

i See Hasse: Anselm von Canterbury. 2 vols. Leipsic, 1843 — 52. 
An abridged English translation by Turner, London, 1850; see also 
Church: Life of St. Anselm. London, 1875. 



168 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

theology to be the logical development and demonstra- 
tion of the doctrines of the Church such as they were 
handed down by the Fathers. By his ''Credo, ut intelli- 
gent!," he means that Christians should advance from 
direct faith to whatever degree of scientific insight may 
be attainable by them, but always on the condition 
that the Christian Creed, already fixed in dogmatic form, 
remain untouched and be regarded as the absolute 
norm for thought. Anselm requires, therefore, uncondi- 
tional submission to the authority of the Church. 

As a metaphysician he was a, Kealist, and one of his 
earliest works (De Fide Trinitatis) was written against 
the Nominalism of Koscellinus. The fame of Anselm 
chiefly rests on his two celebrated works, "Proslogium", 
and "Cur Deus homo?" 1 In the first he sets forth the 
ontological proof of the existence of God, as following^ 
from the very idea which we have of him, existence form- 
ing one of the necessary attributes of God. In the last 
Anselm treats of the doctrine of redemption and satis- 
faction, and develops the theory of vicarious atone- 
ment, which was afterwards adopted by the Church. 

It is a characteristic of Anselm that he sought to 
establish on rational grounds not only the existence of 
God, but also the doctrines of the Trinity and of In- 
carnation. 

2) Roscellinus has often been named as the founder 
of Nominalism. He attracted special attention to the 
dangerous tendency of Nominalism by applying his 
philosophical views to the doctrine of the Trinity, 
maintaining that our conception of the Deity was only 
an intellectual abstraction, and that the three persons 
of the Godhead could not be spoken of as One, and con- 
sequently the Trinity became to him three Gods. In the 

i In two books, and frequently published separately (Erlangen. 
1834; Berlin, 1857; London. 1863). Also to be had in English. 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 169 

year 1092 the Council of Soissons compelled him to 
recant his tritheistic exposition of the doctrine of the 
Trinity, and he soon disappears from history. 

3) William of Champeaux (d. 1122), an intimate friend 
of Bernard of Clairvaux, was the special champion of 
Realism in France, but was defeated by Abelard. In his 
"Z?e Origine Animce" he pronounced himself in favor of 
Creation ism, and from his "De Eucharistia" it is evident 
that in his time the Lord's Supper was still generally 
administered "in both kinds." 

4) Abelard (d. 1142) adopted a position of his own 
between the Nominalism of Roscellinus and the Realism 
of Anselm, but his doctrine did not differ much from 
strict Nominalism. In theology as well as in philos- 
ophy, he is merely a critic. Through him was prepared 
in the Middle Ages the ascendency of the philosophical 
authority of Aristotle, which became firmly established 
within a half century of his death. In comparison with 
the rigid orthodoxy of Anselm, Abelard shows a strong 
rationalistic tendency, and his dialectics drove him on 
almost every point beyond the pale of the faith of the 
Church, yet it is to him as much as to Anselm that the 
theology of the Middle Ages owes its dialectical form. 
In his "Introductio ad theologiam" he lays down the prin- 
ciple (in opposition to Anselm's Crndo, ut intelligam) that 
rational insight must prepare the way for faith, since with- 
out it, faith is not sure of its truth (nihil credi posse, nisi 
prius intellect urn ; intelligo, ut credam). 

Although Abelard decidedly rejected the Tritheism 
of Roscellinus, still in his doctrine of the Trinity lie 
verges towards Monarchianism, (explaining the three 
persons as being God's power, wisdom, and goodness, 
potentia, sapientia et benignitas), though he did not confess 
this consequence. 

In his bold work "Sic et Non,"— which consists of 



170 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

quotations from the Fathers arranged in harmony with 
the Loci theologici, but contradicting each other at every 
point without any solution being offered— he seeks to 
maintain his independence of patristic authority. This 
w r ork establishes the fact, that only what is contained 
in the canonical Scriptures is without exception and un- 
conditionally true and that no one of the Church 
Fathers may be regarded as of equal authority with the 
Apostles. 

The most brilliant period of Abelard's life was about 
twenty-five years before his death. His fame as a teach- 
er was then at its height, and thousands of pupils gath- 
ered around him in Paris. Nearly all the great men of 
the age, both within and without the Church, heard 
AJbelard. But this brilliant career was suddenly checked 
by his relation to Heloise. 

About 1135, seven years before his death, his con- 
flict with his great opponent, Bernard of Clairvaux, 
begins. Bernard complained of the rationalistic tend- 
ency of Abelard and affirmed that he "savored of Arius 
when he spoke of the Trinity," "of Pelagius when he 
spoke of grace," "of Nestorius when he spoke of the 
person of Christ," and that "while he labored to prove 
Plato a Christian, he showed himself a heathen." 

5) Bernard of Clairvaux 1 (d. 1153), the great opponent 
of Abelard, was one of the most illustrious Christian 
teachers and representatives of monasticism in the 
Middle Ages. He founded the famous monastery of 
Clairvaux, and at his death left behind him one hundred 
and sixty monasteries, which had been formed by monks 
from Clairvaux. He is the "last of the Fathers," re- 
presenting what is called the positive, patristic school. 

i See Lives bv Neander, Morison, and Storrs. Of special interest 
is Eales: Life and Works of St. Bernard. 2 vols. London, 1889. The 
first two volumes contain 380 letters written by St. Bernard between 
the years 1119 and 1149. 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 171 

In his writings Bernard exhibits a decided antagonism 
to the speculations of his day, and a deep love for con- 
templative or rather mystical, theology. 1 

Robertson: 2 "Bernard found himself, apparently 
without design and even unconsciously, elevated to a 
position of such influence as no ecclesiastic, either before 
or since his time, has attained. Declining the ecclesias- 
tical dignities to which he saw a multitude of his follow- 
ers promoted, the Abbot of Clairvaux was for a quarter 
of a century the real soul and director of the Papacy ; 
he guided the policy of Emperors and Kings, and sway- 
ed the deliberations of councils ; nay, however little his 
character and the training of his own mind might have 
fitted him for such a work, the authorit}^ of his sanctity 
was such as even to control the intellectual development 
of the age which owned him as its master." 

G) The Viciorines — Hugo, Kichard, and Walter,— so 
called from the abbey of St. Victor at Paris, adhered 
closely to the dogmas of the Church, which they endeav- 
ored to explain and support. All of them combined the 
cultivation of the dialectics of the age with a more spir- 
itual and mystical turn of mind. 

a) Hugo of St. Victor* (d. 1141) was one of the prof ound- 
est thinkers of the Middle Ages, and a man of great 
learning. He is the real founder of the mediaeval mysti- 
cism of France. His theological views are unfolded in 
his "Summa Sententiarum," and more full}" in his treatise 
"De Sacramentis Fidei Christiance," which was written 
against Abelard. The spirit of his teaching can be seen 
from the two main propositions on which this last work 
is based : 

i His Sermons on Canticles have been translated into German (with 
^i preface by Franz Delitzsch). Leipsic, 1862. 

2 In his Church History. Vol. 3 pp. 11, 12. 

3 See Liebner: Hugo von St. Victor, etc. Leipsic, 1832. (The most 
comprehensive monograph). 



172 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

1) tantum de veritate quisque potest videre quantum ipse 
est — what a man is in himself is the measure of his in- 
sight of the truth, and 2) we can only know God by lov- 
ing him (ubi caritas est, elaritas est). He also laid 
down the principle that the "uncorrupted truth of things 
cannot be discovered by reasoning." 

b) Richard of St. hctor* (d. 1173) is still more 
pronounced in his mystical tendency. His works are 
concerned chiefly with inward and contemplative relig- 
ion. His great motto was: "You have just as much 
power as you have grace." The most celebrated of his 
mystical works is his "De gratia contemplationis." He 
distinguishes contemplatio from cogitatio and meditatio. 
Cogitatio is common thought, meditatio is a deep ponder- 
ing on a special subject, contemplatio is an intuition, an 
immediate vision of the divine. 

c) Walter of St. Victor (d. 1180) took the boldest 
stand against the prevailing scholasticism of his day, 
and wrote a work "Against the four labyrinths of 
France" (Abelard, Peter Lombard, Gilbertus Porreta- 
nus, and Peter of Poitiers), affirming that all of them, 
"inspired with the spirit of Aristotle, had treated with 
scholastic levity the doctrine of the ineffable Trinity 
and of the Incarnation." 

7) Peter Lombard (d. 1164), in his celebrated manual 
of dogmatics, "Four Books of Sentences,"* which procured 
for him the title of "Master of Sentences," sought to 
justify the doctrines of the Church by subtle processes 
of reasoning, and refinement of argument. His main 
authority is Augustine, and he arranged his mutter 
systematically. As the whole was neatly and method- 

i Compare Kaulich: Die Lehre des Hugo und Richard v. St. Victor. 

Prague, 1864. 

2 In the first book he treats of God; in the second, of created things; 
in the third, of the incarnation, redemption, etc.; in the fourth, of 
eschatology and the (seven) sacraments. 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 173 

ically put together, it was welcomed as a clear and use- 
ful handbook, and the work became and for centuries 
continued in the schools to be the basis of the theolog- 
ical instruction. It was imitated by some, and com- 
mented on by others. In the dialectical treatment of 
theological questions the " Sentences" were, as a rule, 
made a point of departure. 

3. The Period of the highest bloom of Scholasticism. 

1) Alexander of Hales (d. 1245), "the monarch of the- 
ologians," "the Irrefragable Doctor," was the first 
Scholastic who used the whole philosophy of Aristotle 
in the service of Christian theology, and in his great 
work "Sum ma Universal Theologian" 1 he made use of philos- 
ophy for the demonstration of theological dogmas. He 
quotes a triple series of authorities, 1) those who say 
yes, 2) those who say no, and 3) the reconciling views, 
— choosing the authorities not only in the Bible and 
among the Fathers, but among the later philosophers 
and theologians as well as Greek, Latin, and Arabian 
poets. 

2) Albertus Magnus* (d. 1280), called "the Universal 
Doctor" on account of his extensive learning and great 
skill in instruction, was the first Scholastic who intro- 
duced the complete system of Aristotle to the under- 
standing of his age through loose reproductions from 
the Arabic, and this furnished the scholastic philosophy 
with means for its highest development. In his "Summa 
Theologian," while searching constantly for philosophical 
arguments in support of the articles of faith, Albertus 
nevertheless excludes the specifically biblical and Chris- 
tian doctrines of revelation from the sphere of things 
knowable by the light of reason. 

i 1. Of God and his attributes; 2. Of creation and sin: 3. Of re- 
demption and atonement; 4. The Sacraments. 

2 See Sighart: Albertus Magnus, sein Leben und seine Wissenschaft. 

Regensburg, 1857. 



174 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

3) Thomas Aquinas 1 (d. 1274), "the Angelic Doctor," 
was the profoundest and keenest defender of the doc- 
trines of the Koman Catholic Church, and has a place 
with Augustine, Jerome, and Ambrose, among the four 
authoritative teachers of the Church. In an encyclical 
dated Aug. 4, 1879, Pope Leo XIII recommended hi& 
works to the Catholic seminaries and theological facul- 
ties throughout the world, as a proper foundation of 
their religious and philosophical teaching. 

Taking his stand as a Realist, he brought the Schol- 
astic philosophy to its highest stage of development, by 
effecting the most perfect accommodation that was 
possible of the Aristotelian philosophy to ecclesiastical 
orthodoxy, and was careful to distinguish between 
those truths which are only known by revelation and 
those which could be knoAvn and demonstrated by 
reason. His exegetical principles are good, and he- 
refers more frequently to biblical texts than the other 
scholastics, but he could not free himself from ecclesias- 
tical authority. 

The principal works of Aquinas on theology are his 
"Commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard " a work of 
his earlier years, in which he worked out his own system 
and his great (unfinished) work "SummatotiusTheohg/ce," 2 

i See Werner: Der heil, Thomas von Aquino. 3 vols. (Vol. i.: Life 
and writings; Vol. n.: Doctrine; Vol. m.: History of Thomism). Re- 
gensburg, 1858 — 59. Also Vaughan: R. C. Archbishop of Sydney: 
Life and Letters of St. Thomas Aquinas. 2 vols. London, 1871—72. 

2 This work is divided into three great parts: I. Of God and his 
works. II. Of Man, and the seven virtues, which he classifies as 1) 
theological, — faith, hope, and love; and 2) ethical, — the four cardinal 
virtues of justice, prudence, fortitude, and temperance; III. Christ's 
Person and Work, and the Sacraments,— their number being seven, — 
Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Penitence, Orders, Marriage, 
and Extreme Unction. (The author did not live to finish his great 
work, but died before he reached the discussion of "the sacrament of 
Orders." A supplement containing his views, taken from his Com- 
mentary on Peter Lombard's Book of Sentences has been appended to» 
the later editions of his Summa.) 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 175 

the work of his later years, in which all revealed doc- 
trines were to be systematically presented. In this last 
work Aquinas maintains that the Church's doctrines of 
the creation of the world in time, of original sin, of the 
incarnation of the Logos, of the sacraments, of the re- 
surrection of the flesh, of the judgment, and eternal sal- 
vation and damnation, are not to be demonstrated by 
natural reason. These revealed doctrines are regarded 
by Thomas as above, but not contrary to, reason. 

He is not willing to accept Anselm's ontological 
argument for the existence of God, but himself gives 
several forms of the cosmological and teleological ar- 
guments, — nevertheless adds, that while reason can 
prove that God exists, it cannot discover what his nat- 
ure is. He employs all his speculative talent to explain 
the doctrine of the Trinity, yet declares that it is beyond 
the sphere of reason to discover the distinction of per- 
sons in the Godhead, and affirms that he who tries to 
prove the doctrine of the Trinity by the unaided reason 
derogates from faith 1 . Under providence he considers 
the doctrines of election and reprobation. Both rep- 
robation and election are matters of divine decree; and 
the exact number of the reprobate as well as of the 
elect, is determined in advance. His treatment of the 
seven sacraments, had a shaping influence upon the 
discussion of the subject in after- time. He also teaches 
the doctrines of purgatory and of the intercessions of 
the saints. 

Neander:' 2 "Aquinas is said to have employed three 
or four amanuenses, to all of whom he dictated at once 
on different subjects. His writings show that his 
thoughts on divine things flowed from a full heart ; he 
was conscious of the necessary connection subsisting 
i See Landerer in Schaff-Herzog. 

2 In his Church History. Vol. 4. pp. 422, 423. (Torrey's Transla- 
tion.) 



176 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

between thought and feeling. Every day he was accus- 
tomed to have something read to him from a work of 
edification; and when he was asked why he took this 
time from his speculative studies, he replied that he 
thought the act of devotion prepared him for soaring 
upwards to speculation. When the feelings are enkin- 
dled by devotion, the thoughts would more easily 
ascend to the highest matters. He never began to dic- 
tate, without first betaking himself to prayer for divine 
illumination. Whenever doubts confronted him in his 
investigations, he left off meditating, in order to seek 
divine guidance in prayer." 

4) Bonaventura (d. 1274) "the Seraphic Doctor/' 
developed still further the mystical doctrine begun by 
Bernard of Clairvaux and continued by the Victorines, 
and gave to the teachings of Plato as transformed by 
the Church Fathers the preference over those of Ari- 
stotle, but all human- wisdom, even that of Plato, 
appears to him as folly compared with mystical illum- 
ination. He distinguishes three stages of Christian 
perfection: 1) the observance of the law; 2) the fulfil- 
ment of the spiritual counsels of the Gospel; and 3) the 
enjoyment of eternal happiness in contemplation,— 
which last is reserved to ascetics. Bonaventura dis- 
tinguished himself as a writer of mystical and practical 
works on Christianity and his "Breviloquium" is con- 
sidered one of the best expositions of Christian Dogma- 
tics which the Middle Ages produced. 

5) Duns Scotus* (d. 1308, at the age of thirthy-four), 
the pride of the Franciscans, called "the Subtle Doctor" 
on account of his keenness and subtlety, was the great 
opponent of Thomism, or the philosophy of Thomas 
Aquinas, and the founder of the Scotist school. His 
strength lay rather in acute, negative criticism of the 

1 See Werner: Johannes Duns Scotus. Vienna, 1881. 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 177 

teachings of others, than in any positive elaboration of 
his own. His skepticism, however, refers only to ar- 
gumentation, and arguments he may destroy until he 
has no other basis for truth than the absolute will of 
God and the voluntary submission of man; but this 
basis, the truth of the divine revelation, and the author- 
ity of the Church, he never touches 1 . He seeks contin- 
ually to establish a harmony between philosophy and 
the teaching of the Church. 

The difference between Duns Scotus and Thomas 
Aquinas is very striking. Thomas is speculative, Scotus, 
critical; in their ideas of God, Thomas lays stress on 
necessity, Scotus, on freedom. Thomas teaches the de- 
termination of the will, Scotus its indetermination. 
Thomas affirms the doctrine of predestination in the 
strict, Augustinian sense of the term, while Scotus 
teaches a doctrine of Synergism near akin to Pelagian- 
ism. According to Thomas, God commands what is 
good, because it is good, while Scotus maintains, that 
the good is good, because God commands it. Creation, 
incarnation, the necessity of accepting the merit of 
Christ as atonement for our guilt, are facts depending 
solely on the free-will of God, unconditioned by any 
rational necessity. Thus the pre-eminence ascribed by 
Scotus to the will over the reason, in God and in man, 
resolves itself in fact into the omnipotence of the ar- 
bitrary will of the Deity 2 . 

6) Roger Bacon 3 (d. 1294) by his devotion to the 
investigation of nature obtained the title "the wonder- 
ful Doctor," and became a forerunner of Bacon of Veru- 

i See A. Dorner: In Schaff-Hei zog. 

2 See Ueberweg: History of Philosophy. Vol. 1. pp. 456, 457. 

3 See Schneider: Roger Bacon, Eine Monographie. Augsburg, 1873. 
This writer not only protests against the extravagant judgments of 
late passed upon Bacon, but points out very clearly in what aspects 
Bacon appears as a mere scholastic. 



178 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

lam. He preferred to study nature rather than to bury 
himself in scholastic subtleties. He did not succeed, 
however, in drawing his contemporaries away from 
metaphysics. He urged a wider circulation and more 
earnest study of the Bible, tracing nearly all the evil 
of his day to want of personal acquaintance with this 
heavenly rule of life. He recommended a revision of the 
Latin Vulgate, and especially urged the importance of 
returning to the study of the Bible in the original Greek 
and Hebrew. His "Compendium Stud// Theologian" was 
probably his latest composition. 

4. The Time of the decline of Scholasticism. 

1) Durand of St. Poursain (d. 1332) was surnamed 
"the most Resolute Doctor," on account of the resolute- 
ness with which he maintained that there is no human 
authority above the human reason. The consequence 
was an open split between faith and knowledge, between 
theology and philosophy. He denied that theology was 
a science, and made its object or subject man instead of 
God, and declared the Scriptures to be a practical help 
in attaining heaven by good works. He wrote a "Com- 
mentary" on the "Sentences of Lombard," which Gerson 
recommended to his pupils as the best work on the sub- 
ject. He disputed the current scholastic teaching respect- 
ing transubstantiation, which he declared to be unscript- 
ural, and approximated closely to the view taught by 
the Reformers in the sixteenth century 1 . 

2) William Occam (d. 1347), called by his followers 
"the Invincible Doctor," renewed the doctrine of Nomin- 
alism, breaking completely with Realism, which, had 
been the sole ruler in philosophy since the days of An- 
selm and the Victorines. He maintained that the har- 
mony between reason and faith, between science and 
religion, always presupposed by Realism, must be an 

i See Wagenmann in Schaff-Herzog. 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 179 

illusion. He denied that any theological doctrine could 
be demonstrated by pure reason. Even the existence 
and unity of God were, in his judgment, merely articles 
of faith. All knowledge which transcends the sphere of 
experience was relegated to the sphere of faith. Through 
his writings he exercised some influence in the period of 
the Reformation, especially on Luther 1 , in his earlier 
stage, because of Occam's opposition to the Pope, 
though in doctrine they were often quite antagonistic. 

3) Peter D'Ailly (d. 1425), bishop of Cambray (1396) 
and from 1411 also a cardinal, known as "the Hammer 
of Heretics, ' though a Nominalist, defended the doctrine 
of the Church, and sought in philosophy to steer between 
skepticism and dogmatism, making a clear distinction 
between theology and philosophy. He gave precedence 
to the Bible rather than to Christian tradition, and 
protested against the infallibility of the pope, maintain- 
ing that the true representative of the Church was not 
the pope, but the oecumenical council. He also wrote a 
"Commentary" on the "Sentences" of Peter Lombard. 

4) John Gerson (d. 1429), "the most Christian Doc- 
tor," attempted to combine Mysticism with Scholas- 
ticism. An adherent of Nominalism, he sought to 
reconcile theology with Scholastic philosophy, main- 
taining that truth could be learned only through 
revelation. He urged the study of the Bible and the 
Fathers, xlccording to Gerson, neither Plato nor Ari- 
stotle is the right guide for him who is seeking his sal- 
vation. Better than all knowledge is obedience to the 
divine exhortation : Repent and believe the Gospel. He 
also protested against the infallibility of the pope, and 
held that (ecumenical councils are the true representa- 
tives of the Church, and that they may accuse and 
depose popes. 

i See Rettberg: Occam und Luther. In Stud, und Krit., 1839. 



180 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

5) Gabriel Biel (d. 1495), "the last Scholastic," whose 
chief merit lav in his clear and faithful presentation of 
the nominalistic doctrine, publishing a summary of the 
doctrines of Occam, exerted considerable influence on 
the beginnings of the Keformation. Semi-Pelagian in 
his teaching, he is the last noticeable representative of 
the ecclesiastical science of the Middle Ages. 

5. Mysticism and the Pre -Reformatory Theology. 1 

1) Meister Eckhart 2 (d. 1329) the author andperfecter 
of the entire development of German Mysticism, has 
been called "the father of modern Pantheism," on account 
of his pantheistic speculations, maintaining that in its 
true existence every creature is not only a revelation of 
God, but a part of him, and that the true object of life 
is to strip off all illusions and deceptions, and return 
into the one great being, God. In many points the 
doctrine of Thomas Aquinas approaches exceedingly 
near to that taught by Eckhart. The Koman Thomas 
became the highest scientific authority of the Komish 
Church, while the doctrine of Eckhart, the German, pre- 
pared the way through its ethics for the Reformation, 
and through its metaphysics for the later German spec- 
ulation. 

2) Johannes Tauter* (d. 1361), "the Sublime and 
Illuminated Doctor," was one of the greatest preachers 
of his time. He was distinguished by deep humility,, 
ardent love, and fervent piety. On the doctrine of jus- 
tification by faith he closely approximated the teaching 

i See Ullmann: Reformers before the Reformation. Translated" into 
English. 2 vols. Also Yaughan: Hours with the Mystics, 2 vols. Third 
ed. London, 1880. 

2 See Martensen: Meister Eckhart. Hamburg, 1842. Also Lasson 
in Ueberweg's History of Philosophy. Vol. 1. pp. 467—84. 

3 English translation of his Sermons with a short life by Catherine 
AYinkworth, London, 1857. Edited by Dr. Hitchcock, New York,. 
1858. 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE MIDDLE AGES 181 

of the Reformers. His style and doctrine entitle him to 
a place among the best German prose authors before 
Luther. 

3) Heinrich Suso (d, 1365) was the representative of 
the poetical mysticism of the Middle Ages, and he wrote 
his book "Von der ewigen Weisheit"— "On Eternal Wisdom' ' 
in 1338. 

4) John Ruysbroeck (d. 1381) "the ecstatic Doctor, " 
so called because he laid so much stress on the ecstatic 
state, was the most prominent of the Dutch mystics. 
Without going very deeply into ontological specula- 
tions, he taught that the way to God was through 
contemplation, but his views are not always free from 
pantheistic tendencies. 

5) The unknown author of "Theologia Germanica," 
"Eyn Deutsch Theologia" exerted a great influence on 
the times of the Reformation. This work was edited by 
Luther in 151 8 1 , and in the preface he speaks of it "as a 
noble work, which sets forth clearly what Adam and 
what Christ is, and how Adam is to die and Christ to 
rise in us." Nearly one hundred editions have been 
published, and the work has been translated into many 
languages. 

Tauler and the "German Theology" perpetuated the 
speculations of Eckhart. The work itself treats prin- 
cipally of the incarnation of God in Christ, and urges 
the sacrifice of one's self, in order to fulfil better the will 
of God. 

6) John Wiclif* (d. 1384), "the Morning Star of the 

i The best edition is by Pfeiffer. Third edition. Guetersloh, 
1855. The best English translation by Susanna Winkworth, 1874. 

2 See Yaughan: John de Wycliffe, a Monograph. London, 1853. Also 
Lechler: Johann von Wiclif und die Vorgeschichte der Reformation. 2 vols. 
Leipsic, 1873. Translated into English, with important additional 
notes by Lorimer under the title: John Wiclif and his English Precursors. 
+2 vols/ London, 1878; in 1 vol. 1881. New edition by Dr. S. G. 
Oreen, 1 vol. 1884. (This work supersedes all others). 



182 INTRODUCTION dX) DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

Reformation," wrote his chief work "Trialogus" in 13 82, 
in which he fully sets forth his theological views. His- 
formal principle was the absolute authority of Scripture, 
and his material principle the absolute causality of God. 
His great problem is to represent the incarnation from 
a moral point of view, and he loves to set forth Christ 
as the centre of humanity. His view of the Incarnation 
and Atonement led him to renounce all trust in human 
merit and to protest against the worship of relics and 
images, and the sale of indulgences. He denied the real 
presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Lord 'a 
Supper, taught absolute predestination, believed in 
purgatory, and held some peculiarly erratic views on 
the nature and intent of marriage, and many germs of 
error and extravagance may be detected in his specula- 
tions, much as these were overbalanced by the noble 
witness which he bore to long-forgotten truths, and by 
the virtues of his private life. x 

7) John Huss 2 (d. 1415), inferior to Wiclif in spec- 
ulative talent and constructive faculty, was more evan- 
gelical than the English Reformer. His principal work 
is "Z?e Ecclesia," "On the Church." He regarded the 
Scriptures as an infallible authority, and defined the 
Church to be the body of the elect, basing his views 
upon the teaching of Augustine. A great student and 
admirer of Wiclif, he died a martyr because he based his 
reform of the Church upon conscience and Scripture, and 
not upon ecclesiastical authority. 

8) Johan Wessel* (d. 1489) "the light of the world," 

"the Master of contradictions," was the most prominent 

of the precursors of the Reformation in Germany. Luther, 

i See Hardwick: Church History. (Middle Ages). Pp. 374— 390. 
Third edition. London, 1872. 

2 See Gillett: Life and times of John Huss. Third edition. Boston,. 
3 870. Also Lechler in Schaff-Herzog. 

3 See especially Ullmann, already quoted. 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 183 

who published a collection of the works of "Wessel, in 
1522, says of him, in the preface, that if he had not 
written anything before he read these words, people 
might have thought that he had stolen all his ideas 
from him. 1 On many points, on justification, penance, 
purgatory, etc., he anticipated the Keformation. 

His definition of the Church is of special interest. 
He says: "I believe with the Church, but I do not believe 
in her." The Church to him is a communio sanctorum, the 
community of saints, and not a communio praedestinato- 
rum as Wiclif and Huss have it. Wessel ^was alike distin- 
guished as a theologian and as a general scholar. 

9) Johann von Wesel (d. 1481) wrote against the doc- 
trine of indulgences (Adversus Indulgeniias) and on "Eccle- 
siastical Power." On his trial (he escaped the stake, 
but was locked up for life in an Augustinian convent at 
Mayence) the principal charges against him were, that 
he denied the procession of the Holy Spirit from the 
Son, rejected tradition, and disputed the absolute 
authority of a council legitimately called. He taught 
the formal principle of Protestantism,— the Scriptures 
the sole rule of faith, — but he did not fully reach the 
material principle, — justification by faith alone. 

6. The Humanists. 

The Humanists, the critical spirit of the age, and 
the study of the Bible, co-operated in preparing the way 
for the Keformation. The humanists were the philol- 
ogians and critics of their age; they restored the purity 
of the Latin Language, made the study of Greek an in- 
dispensable element of scholar ly education, and in- 
troduced the study of Hebrew. In Germany these stud- 
ies were chiefly cultivated by the "Brethren of the Com- 

i "Wenn ich den Wessel zuvor gelessen, so liessen meine Wider- 
sacher sich duenken, Luther hatte Alles vom Wessel genommen, also 
stimmet unser beider Geist znsammen." 



184 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

mon Life," and from this school the Reformation re- 
ceived great assistance. Though they aided in the work, 
the Humanists would never have effected the Reforma- 
tion. 

§17. The Dogmatics of the Century of the Reformation. 1 

The sixteenth century was full of fresh specu- 
lation and practical life, with a harmony of the 
intellectual, experimental, and practical, almost 
without a parallelism in the history of the Church. 

The two sorts of Dogmatics, the Lutheran 
and the Keformed, may be characterized as the 
theology of Salvation, and the theology of the 
Absolute Will. 

/. The Dogmatics of Melanchthon 2 . 
The impress of the character of Luther upon the 
Lutheran Church is so mighty that no one can under- 
stand the doctrines of the Church without understand- 
ing him. For the whole early history of our Church is 
interwoven with the personal and official history of 
Luther* (d. 1546). 

1 Kraiith: The Conservative Reformation and its Theology Philadel- 
phia, 1871. 

Seiss: Ecclesia Lutherana. Fourth edition. Philadelphia, 1871. 

Schmid: The Doctrinal Theology of the Evangelical Lutheran Chnrch, ex- 
hibited and verified from the original sources. Second EDglish edi- 
tion. Philadelphia, 1889. 

2 The first complete edition oi his works is given by Bretschneider 
and Bindseil in the Corpus Reformatorum. Vols. 1—28. Halle, 1834— 
50. Ledderhose's Life of Melanchthon (Heidelberg, 1847) has been 
translated into English by Dr. Krotel, Philadelphia, 1855. 

On Melanchthon's Theology see Plitt: Melanchthon's Loci in ihrer 
Urgestalt. Erlangen, 1864; Herrlinger: Die Theologie Melanchthons, etc. 
Gotha, 1879. 

3 The best serviceable edition of Luther's works is the Erlangen 
edition in 67 German and 39 Latin volumes (1826—86). The most 
valuable biographies are by Koestlin: Martin Luther, sein Leben und 
seine Schriften. Third Edition, 2 vols. Elberfeld, 1883; also his smaller 
work .Luther's Leben. Third edition. Leipsic, 1883. English transla- 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE CENTURY OF THE REFORMATION. 185 

But it was Melanchthon (d. 1560), who wrote the first 
Protestant work of Systematic theology, under the title 
"Loci Communes/' 1 of which three editions appeared in 
1521. In this work he sought to give the theological 
-and religious results of the Reformation, and pursued 
iihe dialectic rather than the speculative method, mak- 
ing accurate definitions and clear divisions. In this first 
edition he follows closely the Epistle to the Romans in 
his delineation of the fundamental doctrines of sin and 
grace. But after 1533 he departed farther and farther 
from the views of Luther, and in the second great edi- 
tion of his Loci, in 1535, and his third, 1543, he made 
many alterations and emphasized his so-called Synergism. 
He mentions three causes as concurring in the work of 
conversion — "the Word of God, the Spirit, and the 
human will assenting to, and not rejecting, the Word of 
God." 2 

He everywhere insists upon his doctrinal agreement 
with Luther, and does, in fact, agree with him in mak- 
ing all prominent the doctrine of salvation by faith in 
Christ, but the Melanchthon of the later period differed 
very considerably in doctrinal views from Luther. 

His vacillations, real and seeming, were due to his 
timidity and gentleness of character, his aversion to 
controversy, his philosophical, humanistic, and classi- 
cal cast of thought, and his extreme delicacy in matter 
of style; his excessive reverence for the testimony of the 
Church, and her ancient writers, and his anxiety that 

tion, London. New York, and Philadelphia, 1883. Bayne: Life of Lu- 
ther, 2 vols. 1887. 

On Luther's Theology see: Koestlin: Luther's Theologie, 2 vols. 
Stuttgart. 1863; Harnack: Luther's Theologie, 2 vols. Erlangen, 1862 
—1886. 

i On his relation to the Augsburg Confession and Apology see pp. 
112 — 115. On his vacillations in statements of doctrine see p. 122. 

2 "Concurrent tres causae bonae actionis, verbum Dei, Sp. S., et 
humana voluntas assentiens nee repugnans verbo Dei." 



186 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

peace and harmony should be restored to the Church. 
The friends of the Keformation were embarrassed and 
confounded, its enemies delighted and encouraged, by 
preceiving endless diversities of statement in the edi- 
tions of books, rapidly succeeding each other, books 
which, in their first form, Luther had endorsed as of 
Canonical purity and worthy of immortality. The 
very Confessions of the Church, determined by her 
authorities, and signed by her representatives, were 
amended, enlarged here, abridged there, changed in 
structure and in statement, as the restless spirit of re- 
fining in thought or style moved Melanchthon 1 . 

The three works of Melanchthon in which the 
changes were most noted and most mischievous, are: 
1) the Augsburg Confession; 2) the Apology, and 3) the 
Loci Communes 2 . 

i This paragraph is condensed from Krauth's Conservative Refor- 
mation. Pp. 289—290. 

2 Before the death of Melanchthon ia 1560, this work had been 
reprinted nearly 80 times in various editions (17 of the text of 1521, 
11 of the text of 1535, and 34 of that of 1543). These three important 
editions of the Loci (1521, 1535, 1543), with valuable prolegomena, 
are edited by Bretschneider and Bindseil in vol. 21 of Corpus Reforma- 
torum. In vol. 22, they give an account of the various translations of 
the Loci (three in High German— 1. by Spalatin, nine editions from 
1522—1526; 2. by Justus Jonas, eight editions from 1536—1540; 3. 
by Justus Jonas, revised and improved by Melanchthon, nine editions 
from 1542 — 1559— two in Low German, and translations in Italian, 
French, Dutch, etc.), and carefully edit the translation made by Jus- 
tus Jonas and revised by Melanchthon. 

The cheap edition of the Loci, published by Schlawitz, Berlin, 1856, 
is a reprint of the Leipsic edition of 1559, the last published during 
the life of Melanchthon. 

After a brief preface Melanchthon in 24 sections presents his whole 
system: 1. De Deo; 2. De creatione; 3. De causa peccati et de contin- 
gentia; 4. De humanis viribus seu de libero arbitrio; 5. De peccato; 6. 
De lege divina; 7. De evangelio; 8. De gratia et de justificatione; 9. De 
bonis operibus; 10. De discrimine vereris et novi Testamenti; 11. De 
discrimine peccati mortalis et venialis; 12. De ecclesia; 13. De Sacra- 
mentis; 14. De praedestinatione; 15. De regno Christi; 16. Deresurrec- 
tione mortuorum; 17. De spiritu et litera; 18. De calamitatibus et de 
cruce, et de veris consolationibus; 19. De invocatione Dei seu de pre- 
catione; 20. De magistratibus civilibus et dignitate rerum politica- 
rum; 21. De ceremoniis humanis in ecclesia; 22. De mortificatione car- 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE CENTURY OF THE REFORMATION. 187 

It was as the author of the Loci that his influence 
continued to be felt years after his death, because this 
work served, for almost a century, as the basis and 
model of the dogmatic teaching of the Lutheran Church. 

As an exegete, Melanchthon does not occupy the 
same prominent position as Luther. He insisted upon 
the literal sense in contrast to the four senses of the 
scholastic (literal, moral, mystical, allegorical). 

Melanchthon also exerted a wide influence in the de- 
partment of Homiletics, though he never preached from 
the pulpit, not having been ordained, and has been re- 
garded as the author, in the Protestant Church, of the 
methodical style of preaching which follows the text or 
the subject. His influence in the departments of Philol- 
ogy and Pedagogy entitles him to the name of "the Pre- 
ceptor of Germany/' He laid great stress upon classical 
studies, and advocated a close and necessary connection 
of the School and the Church, regarding the School as 
the nursery of the Church 1 . 

2. The Melanchthonian School of Dogmatics. 

1) Victoria Strigel (d. 1569), a pupil of Melanchthon,. 
was a strong advocate of Synergism 2 . A public contro- 
versy lasting fifteen days was held between him and 
Flacius, in 1560, at Weimar. The only point discussed 
was the relation of the human will to divine grace in the 
work of conversion. It was a conflict between the 
Melanchthonian theology and strict Lutheranism. It 
was in the heat of this controversy that Flacius made 
the assertion, that original sin was the very substance of 

nis; 23. De scandalo; 24. De libertate Christiana. With two Appendixes : 
1. De conjugo; 2. Definitiones multarum appellationum quarum in 
ecclesia usus est. 

i Compare the excellent article of Landerer in Herzog (First edition). 
Herrlinger has rewritten this article for the second edition. 

2 Tres sunt causae efficientes conversionis: Deus, verbum, et voluntas 
hominis. His Loci theologici. edited by Pezel (4 vols. 1582—85), is the 
best Dogmatics of the Melanchthonian type of theology. 



188 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

human nature, since the fall, and not something ac- 
cidental, — which he would not afterwards retract, and 
thus gave occasion to the Flacian controversy. 

2) Nicolas Selneccer (d. 1592) was also one of Melanch- 
thon's pupils, and one of the authors of the Formula of 
Concord, and to him we owe the Latin translation of the 
Formula. In his"lnstituiiones Christianas Religionis" (1563), 
a commentary on the Loci of Melanchthon, which is the 
first system of dogmatic theology in the Lutheran 
Church which contains the so-called Prolegomena, he still 
represented the Melanchthonian type of theology, but 
this was corrected in accordance with, the teaching of 
the Formula of Concord in his later works. 

3) Martin Chemnitz (d. 1586) was the greatest of 
Melanchthon 's pupils, "without doubt the prince of the 
theologians of the Augsburg Confession" 1 , "that great 
theologian of our Church, whom no one will refuse to 
assign the chief place after Luther among the defenders 
of the Gospel truth," 2 and as one of the authors of the 
Formula of Concord, left the impress of his theological 
learning upon it. His "Loci Theo/ogici" 3 is a commentary 
upon the Loci Communes of Melanchthon, which he 
corrects wherever Melanchthon departs from the doc- 
trine of our Church. In this work Chemnitz displays his 
accuracy and clearness in the definition of doctrine, his 
prudent choice of matter and his knowledge of Scripture. 
His "Examen . Concilii Tridentini"^ is the ablest defence of 
Protestantism ever published . 

Dr. Krauth: 5 "The learning of Chemnitz was some- 

i Quenstedt. 

2 Buddeus. 

3 Published after his death by Polj'carp Leyser in 1591. 

4 Published in four parts. 1565—73. Reprinted by Preuss, Berlin, 
1861. A condensed German translation was published in St. Louis, 
1875, (also Dresden). 

5 In Conservative Reformation, p. 310. 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE CENTURY OF THE REFORMATION. 189' 

thing colossal, but it has no tinge of pedantry. His 
judgment was of the highest order. His modesty and 
simplicity, his clearness and thought, and his luminous 
style, his firmness in principle, and his gentleness in 
tone, the richness of his learning and the vigor of his 
thinking, have revealed themselves in such measure in 
his "Loci," his books "On the Two Natures of Our 
Lord," and "On the True Presence," in his "Examen of 
the Council of Trent," his "Defence of the Formula of 
Concord," and his "Harmony of the Gospels," as to 
render each a classic in its kind, and to mark their 
author as the greatest theologian of his time — one of 
the greatest theologians of all time." 

4) Jacob Heerbrand (d. 1600), professor of theology 
at Tuebingen after 1557, through his principal work 
"Compendium Theologicum," which was generally used as a 
text-book in Germany, Denmark, and Sweden, and 
which had almost symbolical authority in Wuertem- 
berg, exerted a wide influence. The book is in the form 
of questions and answers, and presents very clearly and 
simply the Lutheran doctrines in a biblical manner. On 
account of the negotiations going on, at the time, be- 
tween the Patriarch of Constantinople and the Univer- 
sity of Tuebingen, it was translated into Greek. This 
writer, and the following writers of this century, no 
longer followed Melanchthon, but adopted strict Lu- 
theran views, and closely adhered to the Formula of Con- 
cord. 

5) Matthias Hafenreffer (d. 1619), professor of theol- 
ogy at Tuebingen after 1598, in his "Loci Theologici," 
follows the synthetic method, starting from the highest 
principle, God, and proceeding to Man, to Christ, to 
Kedemption, until the system ends in the doctrine of the 
Last Things. This work was the text-book generally 
used at the Universities (Tuebingen, Upsala, etc.), dur- 



190 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

ing the seventeenth century. "It obtained at once the 
widest currency in upper and lower Germany, because it 
gave in the most precise and intelligible manner the 
doctrinal points of the Formula of Concord, which was 
what they wanted to hear exclusively in the Lutheran 
lecture rooms." 1 

3. The Reformed Dogmatics. 
1) Zwingli 2 (d. 1531) gives us the most complete, 
though not a systematic, presentation of his views in 
his "Commentarius de vera et falsa religione," published in 
1525. Unlike Luther, he was not led to be a reformer 
by any inward experience, but by classical culture, and a 
scientific study of the Bible. The doctrine of justifica- 
tion by faith, therefore, was by no means so central and 
vital with him as with Luther. He began his work, not 
so much with the purification of doctrine, as with exter- 
nal improvements in worship, order, and customs. He 
laid stress upon the absoluteness of God and the exclu- 
siveness of his will, so that the material principle of 
Zwingli is the glory of God. Acknowledging as his formal 
principle the exclusive authority of Scripture as a Rule 
of Faith he often did violence to the Word of God, for he 
approached it externally, and explained the scriptures 
according to his subjective judgment. He regarded the 
sacraments as only commemorative signs, and he had 
such superficial views of original sin and guilt, that he 
regarded even heathen, like Socrates and Cato, without 
further qualifications, as members of the kingdom of 
God,— of which view Luther says : "If this is true, then 
the whole Gospel is false." 3 His speculations led Kim to 

i Heppe. 

2 Zeller: Das theologische System Zwingle's, Tuebingen, 1853. Sig- 
wart: Zwingli, der Character seiner Theologie, etc. Stuttgart, 1855. 
Hottinger: Life of Zwingli (Translated by T. C. Porter), Harrisburg, 
1857. Usteri: Zwingli. Zurich, 1883. Grob: The Life of Zwingli, New 
York, 1883. 

3 Hoc si verum est, totum evangelium falsum est. 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE CENTURY OF THE REFORMATION. 191 

adopt a fatalistic predestination, which deprives the will 
of moral freedom, as over against divine providence. 
Schaff: 1 "Zwingli lacked the genius and depth of Luther 
and Calvin, the learning of Melanchthon and Oecolampa- 
dius, but he "was their equal in honesty of purpose, in- 
tegrity of character, heroic courage, and devotion to 
the cause of the Reformation, and surpassed them in 
liberality. His prominent intellectual trait was clear, 
strong common sense. He had no organ for the mys- 
tic element in religion In his theological views 

he was more radical than Luther He differed 

chiefly from his view of the real presence of Christ's 
body and blood in the sacrament, and held this ordi- 
nance to be merely a commemoratioD of the atoning 
death of Christ. .... In some articles he was ahead 
of his age, and held opinions which were then deemed 
dangerous and heretical. He had a milder view of 

original sin and guilt than the other Reformers 

Zwingli represents only the first stage in the history of 
the Reformed Church. His work was completed after his 
death by his successor, Bulliuger, at Zurich, and still 
more by Calvin at Geneva." 

2) John Calvin 2 (d. 1564), the founder of Calvinism, 
wrote his famous work, "Institutes of the Christian Relig- 
ion," in 1536, when he was twenty-seven years old. The 
final form was given to the Institutes in the Latin edition 
of Geneva, 1559, when it was made into a treatise of 
four books, divided into one hundred and four chapters. 
In the first three books he follows the order of the 
Apostles' Creed, and in the fourth book treats of the 

i In Johnson's Cyclopaedia. 

2 There is an English translation of Calvin's works by the "Calvin 
Translation Society," in 52 vols., Edinburgh, 18-42—53." On his Life 
see Dyer: Life of Calvin, London, 1849; Bungener: Calvin, Paris, 1862 
(English translation, Edinburgh, 1863); but especially Stahelin: Jo- 
hannes Calvin, 2 vols. Elberfeld, 1863. See also Schaff: Creeds of Chris- 
tendom. Vol. 1. pp. 421—465. 



192 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

Church. 1 As a system this work of Calvin is more com- 
prehensive, and more complete in its formal scientific 
construction, than the Loci of Melanchthon, Although 
Calvin far surpassed Zwingli in religious depth and 
fervor, and closely approximated the views of Luther, 
still, in the fundamental principle of his system, he stood 
on the same basis with Zwingli. He was decidedly hos- 
tile to ecclesiastical tradition, and on the doctrine of 
the person of Christ differed greatly from Luther, and 
therefore could not apprehend the doctrine oftheLord'a 
Supper in the fulness of Luther's faith. The inexorable 
consistency with which he carrid out his views of predes- 
tination, made them exceed Augustine's doctrine in in- 
flexible rigidity and severity. 2 The five points of Calvin- 
ism are: 1) unconditional election; 2) limited atonement^ 
designed for the elect alone; 3) the total moral inability 
of the will; 4) irresistible grace; and 5) the perseverance 
of the saints. 

3) Peter Martyr Vermilius (d. 1562), in his "Loci Com- 
munes," which is one of the principal sources for the 
study of the Keformed theology of the sixteenth century y 
was Zwinglian in his doctrine. 

4) Bullinger (d. 1575), the author of the "Second 
Helvetic Confession," 1566, one of the most elaborate 
of the Reformed Creeds, and next to the Heidelberg 
Catechism, the most authoritative, contributed much to 

i The first edition (Latin, Basel, 1536) contained only six chap- 
ters; 1) Of Law, with an exposition of the Ten Commandments; 2) 
Of Faith, with an exposition of the Apostles' Greed; 3) Of Prayer, 
with an exposition of the Lord's Prayer; 4) Of the Sacraments of 
Baptism and the Lord's Supper; 5) Of the other So-called Sacraments; 
6) Of Christian Liberty, Church Government and Discipline. 

2 For an excellent article on Calvinism by Dr. a. A. Hodge see* 
Johnson's Cyclopaedia. He speaks ol the "Institutes," as "the first and 
grandest work of systematic divinity the world has seen," that in it 
Calvin "has recast Augustinianism in its final Protestant form, and 
handed it over to the modern world stamped with its great author's, 
name." 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE CENTURY OF THE REFORMATION. 193 

•establish the Eef or mation in Switzerland. 1 His "Com- 
pendium religionis christiance" appeared in 1556, in which, 
however, he did not lay so much stress on absolute pre- 
destination. 

5) Wolfgang Musculus (d. 1563) was originally in 
favor of a union between the Lutheran and the Re- 
formed Churches, but afterwards saw fit to change his 
views, and is his "Loci Communes,"* took a strong Cal- 
vinistic position. 

6) Areiius (d. 1574), professor of theology at Berne 
(1563 — 74), exercised considerable influence through his 
"TheologicB Problemata," and his "Examen Theo/ogicum" ran 
through six editions in fourteen years. 

7) Zacharias Ursinus (d. 1583), the chief author of 
the "Heidelberg Catechism" (1563), was a man of 
profound classical, philosophical, and theological learn- 
ing. He was no orator, and no man of action, but a 
retired, modest, and industrious student. His principal 
works, beside the Heidelberg Catechism, are a "Com- 
mentary" on the Catechism, and an attack on the 
Formula of Concord.* 

8) Olevianus (d. 1587), joint author of the "Heidel- 
berg Catechism" with Ursinus, was inferior to Ursinus 
in learning, but his superior in the pulpit and in Church 
government. In the doctrines of the Lord's Supper and 
predestination, he held the views of Calvin. He has been 
regarded as the forerunner of the "federal theology" of 
Cocceius (</. 1669). 

9) Hyperius (d. 1564), professor of theology at Mar- 
burg (1542—64), exercised a considerable influence on 
the formation of evangelical theology. His "To pica 

1 See Schaff: Creeds of Christendom. Vol. 1. pp. 390—420. 

2 Basel, 1560, and afterward often reprinted. 

3 See Schaff: Creeds of Christendom. Vol. 1. pp. 529—534. 



194 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

theologica" (1561) was extensively used even by Roman? 
Catholic preachers. 

10) Zanchi (d. 1590) acquired a great reputation as 
one of the most learned theologians of his time. He 
strongly advocated the Calvinistic doctrine of predes- 
tination, and attacked the Lutheran doctrine of the^ 
Person of Christ. 

§ 18. The Orthodox Dogmatics of the Seventeenth Century. 

The orthodox dogmatics of the seventeenth 
century had the character in some measure of a 
revived and purified scholasticism, running out 
in some extreme cases into a sort of Protestant 
Medievalism. But it was more profound than 
the theology of the Early Fathers, more true 
and consistent than that of the Scholastics, and 
more scientifically developed and honestly out- 
spoken than the dogmatics of the Koman Catho- 
lic Church. 

/. The Characteristic of the Dogmatics of this period. 1 
During the latter part of the sixteenth century the 
Lutheran Church had undergone the ordeal of a war of 

i In order to form a clear conception of the history of the dogmat- 
ic development of the Lutheran Church in the 17th Century, we must 
take into consideration. 1) The three general tendencies which were 
at work in Lutheran Germany, and 2) the internal controversies 
which agitated the Lutheran Church during this period. 

1) Of the general tendencies at work the first was a strong ftoman 
Catholic reaction, supported by political power, kindled and fermented! 
by the Jesuits, a reaction which culminated in the Thirty Years' War 
(1618—1648), of which Gustavus Adolphus, of Sweden, is the hero. 

The second general tendency was a strongly-marked Calvinizing- 
movement, also started and abetted by political power, by which; 
Lutheran Germany lost several states. 

The third general tendency were the Unionistic efforts, which in- 
stead of restoring religious unity, only made the breach wider. These- 



THE ORTHODOX DOGMATICS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 195 

polemics. The precision, clearness and carefulness of 
the Formula of Concord had gradually overcome all 
opposition to it, and had in fact really restored har- 
mony within the Church. 

Now came a period of comparatively internal repose, 
the mediaeval period of Lutheran Theology, when the 
theological system of our Church was fully developed, 
reared like a glorious Gothic edifice, massive in archi- 
tecture, rich in construction, and finished in beauty, 
even to the last of its marvelous adornings. But this 

Unionistic efforts were of a two-fold character: a) The attempt to 
bring about a reconciliation between the Roman Catholics and the 
Protestants (The Conference of Thorn, 1645, known as the Colloquium 
Caritativum, the Conference of Courteous Compliments, and the correspon- 
dence between Bossuet a.nd Leibnitz in 1691); b) the attempt to bring- 
about a reconciliation between the Lutherans and the Reformed (The 
Colloquy of Leipsic, 1631, and of Cassel, 1661). 

2) A reaction against the so-called Scholasticism and one-sided- 
ness of the Lutheran Church could not fail to take place within the 
Church herself. The opposition which sprang up was of a two-fold 
character: a) in the case of Calixtus and the Syncretistic controversies 
it was confined exclusive!}- to the sphere of theology ; b) inSpenerand 
the Pietistic controversy, it more largely concerned the Christian life. 
And though the opposition which arose was marked by a one-sided- 
ness of another sort, still these controversies had a beneficial influence 
upon the spiritual life of the Lutheran Church. 

a) The Syncretistic Controversy. By Syncretism, we mean a tendency 
to form a union between two religions bodies on the basis of such 
doctrines or tenets as are common to both. There are two tendencies 
discernible throughout the whole Reformation period, the one con- 
demning all toleration of different opinions as an unsoundness of 
doctrine, the other striving after reconciliation and harmony between 
the different religious bodies. In the middle of the seventeenth century 
these two tendencies came into violent conflict with each other. The 
controversy originated in the views of the great Helmstadt theol- 
ogian, George Calixtus. On his side were the theologians of Helm- 
stadt and Konigsberg, and opposed to them were the more rigid 
Lutheran theologians of Leipsic, Dresden, and Wittenberg, led by 
John Huelsemann of Leipsic, and above all by Abraham Calovius of 
Wittenberg, who alone wrote 26 controversial books, many of them 
more than a thousand pages quarto. 

b) The Pietistic Controversy. Pietism denotes a movement in the 
Lutheran Church which arose as a reaction of the living, practical 
faith against an orthodoxy which too often contented itself with a 
theoretical correctness of its creed. In the 17th century we have only 
to do with Pietism in its early stage, and the whole movement centres 
around the person of Philip Jacob Spener (d. 1705). 



] 96 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

tendency to an accurate delineation and precise defini- 
tion of doctrine became more and more one-sided. 
Like Mediaeval Scholasticism, in its concern for logic it 
almost lost vitality. Nevertheless, this scholastic or- 
thodoxy, with all its one sidedness, imparted to Lu- 
theran theology a fulness and wealth, an acuteness and 
consistency of structure, the grandeur of which the 
greatest theologians of all denominations are com- 
pelled to acknowledge. We can conceive of men of in- 
tellect studying this system without receiving it in every 
part; but we conceive it impossible for a man of high 
intellect to master the system of our Church without 
admiring it. 

And though this period of our Church is often reviled 
as that of "dead orthodoxy,'' it cannot be denied that 
it possessed more true piety and spiritual life than the 
eighteenth century, that period which most derided it, 
—and that it is far superior to this present century, 
with all its boasted progress, and scientific attainments, 
in stedfastness of faith, in earnest devotion, in consecra- 
tion to God, and in strict adherence to the doctrines of 
God's Word and to the teachings of our Confessions. A 
century which has produced a Johann Arndt (d. 1621), 
a Valerius Herberger (d. 1627), a John Gerhard (d. 
1637), a Johann Andrese (d. 1654), a Heinrich Mueller 
(d. 1675), a Paul Gerhardt (d. 1676), a Christian Scri- 
ver (d. 1701), and a Speiier (d. 1705), can not be al- 
together an age of spiritual coldness, and a period in 
the history of the Church as black as it has generally 
been painted. 

Dr. Waliher:^ The theological works of the seven- 
teenth century "exhibit, not only according to the 
judgment of all Lutherans who are faithful to the Con- 
fession, the very best results that have ever been at- 
i In a criticism of Schmid's Dogmatik der Evang. Luth. Kirche. 



THE ORTHODOX DOGMATICS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 197 

tained in the Christian Church of all ages, so far as cor- 
rect presentation, thorough development and organic 
arrangement of the doctrines of the Bible are concerned, 
and are therefore of imperishable value, but even ac- 
cording to the testimony of men who do not unreserved- 
ly subscribe to the Confessions of our Church, yea even 
of its enemies, these works belong to the most admir- 
able productions of the earnest spirit of Christian re- 
search, which even now every one must make himself 
perfectly familiar with, if he wishes to learn the doc- 
trines of our Church in their peculiar features, their 
wealth, and their self-consistency; or even if, in general, 
he wishes to be capable of forming a well-tested judg- 
ment in the department of Dogmatics." 

2. The divers tendencies of the Orthodox Dogmatics. 1 
Laxity in Calixtus (d. 1656). rigidity in Calovius (d. 
1686), moderation in Musceus (d. 1681), represent the 
great universities which these great men adorn, Helm- 
stadt, Wittenberg, and Jena. 

George Calixtus for forty-two years (1614—1656) 
professor of theology at Helmstadt, was, in the seven- 
teenth century, the most prominent and influential rep- 
resentative of the school of Melanchthon. A man of 
superior scientific and social accomplishments, a thor- 
ough student of Church Historj^, rich in the culture 
which can only be obtained by extensive travels, Calix- 
tus, being of an irenical turn of mind, formed a more 
liberal judgment of other denominations than was 
commonly held. He did not, indeed, desire a formal 
union of the various Churches, but he held that they 
should recognize, tolerate, and love one another. He 
proposed a secondary principle of Christian theology 

i See H. Schmid: "Geschichte der srnkret. Streitigkeiten," etc. 
Erlangen, 1846; Gass: "Calixtus und der Synkretismus." Breslau, 
1846. 



198 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

(next to the Holy Scriptures as its primary principle), 
the consensus of the first five centuries as a common 
basis for all Churches, and sought to show that all 
subsequent diversities were either non-essential or less 
essential. 1 But the more rigid Lutheran theologians, 
who were mistrustful of all peaceful measures, ever 
since the trouble with crypto-Calvinism at the end of 
the sixteenth century, accused Calixtus of crypto-Cal- 
vinism, in fact Calixtus was attacked on all sides, and 
by no one more furiously than by that strict defender 
of orthodoxy, Abraham Calovius of Wittenberg. 

Calovius was the prodigy of his age, the most volu- 
minous of our theologians, writing on all departments 
of theological science, distinguished for his wonderful 
industry, unyielding firmness and severity, vast and 
varied learning, and his most remarkable zeal in con- 
troversy. Although ranking high as a dogmatician, 
still the conspicuous position which he occupied in the 
theological world of the seventeenth century is owing 
principally to his violent polemics against Calixtus, 
and against that reconciliating tendency which was 
represented by the University of Helmstadt. In 1655 
the Theological Faculties of Leipsic and Wittenberg, of 
which Calovius was the ruling spirit, prepared a state- 
ment of the divergences between the Book of Concord 
rand the principles enforced by the school of Calixtus. 
They hoped to make this formal document 2 authorita- 
tive, and of symbolical character, but it was never 
legally ratified. 

1 See Kurtz in his Church History. Vol. 3, § 159, 2. 

2 The title was; Consensus Repetitus fidei vere Lutheranae. and it 
wasarranged nnder 98 heads or articles. Each of the heads was sub- 
divided into three parts. The first division declared the true Lutheran 
doctrine: Profitemur et docent. The second stated the opinion con- 
demned : Rejicimus. The third, under the form of Ita docent, contained 
extracts from the writings of Calixtus, or, in a few cases, of his 
followers. 



THE ORTHODOX DOGMATICS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 199 

Musceus, of Jena, who was strongly opposed to the 
*exact and fixed definitions which were then used in 
Lutheran orthodox dogmatics, in vain, sought to me- 
diate between these two parties. 

3. The Dogmaticians of this period. 

1) Aegidius Hunnius (d. 1603), professor of theology 
^t Marburg 1576—92, and at Wittenberg 1591—1603, 
was one of Heerbrand's pupils, and a staunch champion 
of Lutheran orthodoxy. While at Marburg, he opposed 
the reigning Calvinistic tendency, especially in Christ- 
ology (De persona Christ/', 1585), and in Wittenberg he con- 
tributed greatly in suppressing Melanchthonian views. 
In 1603 he wrote De providentia Dei et ceterna prcedestinatio 
against Huber's false view, that election is universal and 
entirely unlimited. John Gerhard calls him "the best of 
the recent theologians. " 

2) Leonard Mutter (d. 1616), professor of theology at 
Wittenberg from 1596 until his death, was the most 
prominent theologian of his age. His resemblance to 
Luther in vigor of mind, energy of action, unwearied 
industry, firmness in faith, and boldness in proclaiming 
truth and sharply rebuking error, gave him the title of 
"Redonatus Lutherus." He was a typical representative 
of Lutheran orthodoxy in its older form, before its 
scholastic development, while it still confined itself to 
reproductions and polemics. His best known work is 
his "Compendium Locorum Theo/ogicorum/' 1 published in 

i Many editions of this excellent work have been published, and 
it has been translated into German three times (in 1611, by Hutter 
himself in 1613, by Francke in 1837), into Swedish (Stockholm, 
16»8), and into English (by Doctors Jacobs and Spieker, Philadel- 
phia, 1868). 

It presents the whole subject-matter of Dogmatics, arranged in 
the Synthetic manner, under 34 loci or articles: 1) DeScriptura Sacra,, 
2) De Deo uno et trino, 3) De duabus naturis in una, persona Chris ti, 
4) De creatione, 5) De angelis bonis et malis, 6) De imagine Dei in 
homine, 7) De aeterna Dei providentia, 8) De peccato in gen ere et in 
specie, 9) De libero arbitrio, 10) De lege Dei, 11) De evangelio, 12) De 



200 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

1610, which, for nearly a century, was almost univer- 
sally used in the theological schools of Germany, super- 
seding the Loci Communes of Melanchthon. It is brief, 
concise, and comprehensive, arranged in the form of 
questions and answers, and for its definitions mainly 
uses the words of the Symbolical Books, and of the older 
theologians, Chemnitz and Aegidius Hunnius. At least 
eight of our theologians have made this compend a 
basis for other works. 1 Huelsemann of Leipsic f */. 1661 ) r 
esteemed the study of this Compend as of no less im- 
portance than that of the Symbolical Books them- 
selves. 2 Hutter's "Loci Communes Theologici," published 
in 1 619, three years after his death, by the theological 
faculty of Wittenberg, is simply a further elaborat ion 
of the Compendium. The Lutheran Church is also in- 
debted to Hutter for the direction which his instructions 
gave to the mind of John Gerhard. 

3) John Gerhard (d. 1(>:J7), the greatest of all Lu- 
theran theologians, "combined rare learning, great: 
acuteness, wonderful industry, sound judgment, and 
practical ability with ardent piety." 8 Bossuet is said 
to be the author of the often quoted remark that Ger- 
hard is the third (Luther, Chemnitz, Gerhard) in that 
series of Lutheran theologians in which there is no 

jtistificatione, 13) De aeterna praedestinati one, 14) De bonis operibus, 
15) I)'; poenitentia et confessions, 16) De ministerio e1 ordineeccle- 
siastico, 17) Deecclesfa, IS) De libertate Christiana, i ( .>) Desacramen 
tin in genere, 20) \)c baptismo, 21) Decoena Domini, 22) Desacriftciig 
<;t de missa pontifica, 23) De scandalo, 24) De cruce et consolationi- 
bun, 25) De invocatione, 2(>) J)<; vol in monasticis, 27) I)<; magistrate 
et rebus civilibus, 28) De matriroonio, 29) De morte corporis*deque 
immortalitate animae, 30) Do consummations sive fine mundi, 8l)De 
resurrectione mortuorum, >i2) De extremo judicio, 33) De inferno, 84) 
De vit;i aeterna. 

i Cundisius (1648), CiluHKiun (1050), Christian Chemnitz (1070), 
Bechmann (1690), Schneider, Leuschner, Ebart, Deutschmann, etc. 

8 See Dr. Jacobs' Preface to English Translation of Compend. 

■• Luthardt. 



THE ORTHODOX DOGMATICS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 201 

fourth. It is by his great work "Loci Theologici/'^ that 
he gained his great fame. 

Luthardt: "A more careful exegetical treatment 
than is found in his predecessors, the comprehensive- 
consideration of the material afforded by the history 
of dogmas, the most thorough elaboration of every 
question, the objectiveness of its judgment, and its. 

i This work was begun in 1610 and completed in 1621. The best 
edition is that of Cotta (Tuebingen, 1762—87, 22 vols.). For prac- 
tical purposes the edition of Preuss (1863 — 85), in 9 vols., will answer.. 
A very full index published in 1885 greatly adds to the value of this, 
edition, which also preserves in the margin the paging of Cotta's edi- 
tion. So important is this work of Gerhard, that we will attempt to 
indicate in a brief analysis, the comprehensiveness with which each 
doctrine is discussed. A more detailed analysis of his mode of treat- 
ing some of the more important doctrines, will be given later, in the 
dogmatic system itself. (The paging given in this analysis refers to* 
the large quarto edition of Preuss, 9 vols. 1863—1885). 

Book I. Locus 1. De Scriptura Sacra (Chapters 27, pp. 13—240); 
2. De natura Dei et attributis divinis (Ch. 8. pp. 241—370); 3. De 
sanctissimo Trinitatis mysterio (Ch. 13, pp. 371—446); 4. De persona 
et officio Christi (Ch. 15, pp. 447—608). 

Book II. Locus 5. De creatione et angelis (Ch. 6, pp. 1 — 16); 6. 
De providentia (Ch. 15, pp. 17— 17); 7. De electione et reprobatione 
(Ch. 14, pp. 48—106); 8. De imagine Dei in homine (Ch. 10, pp. 107— 
141); 9. De peccato originali (Ch. 10, pp. 142—182); 10. De peccatis 
actnalibns (Ch. 26, pp. 183— 237); 11. De libero arbitrio (Ch. 12, pp. 
238—282). 

Book III. Locus 12. De lege Dei (Sections 208, pp. 1—108); 13. 
De legibus ceremonialibus et forensibus (Sec. 44, pp. 109—140); 14. 
De evangelio (Sec. 130, pp. 141—202); 15. De poenitentia (Sec. 145, 
pp. 203—299); 16. De justifieatione per fidem (See.251,pp 300—520.) 

Book IV. Locus 17. De bonis operibns (Sections 147, pp. 1 — 
136); 18. De sacramentis (Sec. 109, pp. 137— 219); 19. De circumci- 
sione et agno paschali (Sec. 68, pp. 220- 255); 20. De sacro baptismo 
(Sec. 271, pp. 256— 398). 

Book V. Locus 21. De sacra coena (Ch. 26, pp. 1—253); 22. De 
ecclesia (Ch. 13, Sec. 305, pp. 254—602). 

Book VI. Locus 23. De ministerio ecclesiastico (Ch. 10, Sec. 
375, pp. 1—265); 24. De magistrate politico (Ch. 8, Sec. 489, pp. 266 
—562). 

Book VII. Locus 25. De conjugio (Ch. 12, Sec. 708, pp. 1—466). 

Book VIII. Locus 26. De morte (Ch. 10, Sec. 487, pp. 1—391): 
27. De mortuorum resurrectione (Ch. 13, Sec. 124, pp. 392—504). 

Book IX. Locus 28. De extremo judicio (Ch. 11, Sec. 126, pp. 
1—126); 29. De consummatione seculi (Ch. 11, Sec. 107, pp. 127—204); 
30. De inferno seu morte aeterna (Ch. 13, Sec. 93, pp. 205—287); 31.. 
De vita aeterna (Ch. 12, Sec. 177, pp. 288—427). 



202 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

firmness in polemics, combined with the reference to the 
practical and consolatory use of the individual dogmas, 
distinguish this work, which also through its copious 
application of the scholastic theology (especially in the 
doctrine of God), and its employment, although still in 
a moderate degree, of the scholastic form, was of the 
most significant influence upon works which followed it." 

Tholuck: "The progress that Gerhard made beyond 
Chemnitz and Hutter, consists partly in a more perfect 
system atizati on, partly in a deeper and more spec- 
ulative argumentation of bhe dogmas, but especially in 
the completeness and comprehensiveness of the treat- 
ment." 

Kahnis: "The strength of this work does not lie in 
the systematic arrangement of the material, but in the 
thorough elaboration of the individual doctrines, ac- 
cording to the entire extent of their exegetical, dogma- 
tico-historical, symbolical, polemical, and practical 
material." 

Buddeus: "Those who admire his industry, but 
overlook his sound judgment, prove thereby that they 
themselves are destitute of judgment, as I am certain 
that they cannot produce a single example of an error 
in judgment." 

Walther: 1 "In our opinion, this work is the most 
excellent and complete, both in contents and form, that 
has been produced within this department of the Chris- 
tian religion, and will remain until the last day the model 
for all who make attempts in this sphere." 

Not only was Gerhard a giant among the theolo- 
gians, but he was a most successful advocate of a liv- 
ing Christianity, and his "Meditationes sacrce" show him 
to have been a true mystic. 

i All these eulogies are quoted from the sketch of Gerhard in Ap- 
pendix I, to Schmid's Doctrinal Theology. 



THE ORTHODOX DOGMATICS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 203 

4) Nicolaus Hunnius (d. 1643), professor of theology 
«tt Wittenberg (1617 — 22), and Superintendent at Lue- 
beck after 1623, followed in the footsteps of his father, 
Aegidius Hunnius, and like him, was possessed of great 
learning. His "Epitome Credendorum" 1 has often been re- 
printed. 

5) George Calixtus* (d. 1656) introduced the analytic 
method (which begins with the end of all theology, 
blessedness, and hence takes the opposite course from 
the synthetic) into the treatment of Dogmatics, and 
also separated Ethics from Dogmatics. The defender in 
the great Syncretistic controversy, his principal work 
on Dogmatics proper is his small compend"£^/Vo/ne theo- 
logies," published in 1619. In his later writings he de- 
parted widely on various doctrines, from the teaching 
of the Lutheran Church. 

6) Johann Musaeus (d. 1681), professor of theology at 
Jena (1646—81), possessed an excellent philosophical 
training and, on the one side, vindicated the applica- 
tion of philosophy to theology against the disciples of 
the stiff Lutheran orthodoxy, while on the other side, 
he condemned its too universal use by the theologians 
of the Reformed Church. He regarded theology the 
object not only of the intellect, but of the affections*, and 
emphasized to such a degree the sanctity of the will, 
that he has been regarded as a precursor of Spener. 
He refused to sign the Consensus drawn up by Calovius 
in 1655, and was also accused of Syncretism, and com- 
pelled in a formal way to renounce all sympathy with 
the views of Calixtus. 4 

i Translated into English by Gottheil, Nuremberg, 1847. 
2 Compare H. Schmid: Gesch, des synkret. Streitigkeiten, Erlangen, 
1846; Gass: G. Calixtus und der Synkretismus. 

s See his Introductio in theologiam. Jena, 1678. 

4 See note on p. 000. 



204 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

7) John William Baier (d. 1695) based his ''Compendium 
Theologies Positives" 1 upon the theology of Musaeus, his 
father-in-law, and of "many other orthodox theolo- 
gians." The author adopts the analytic method, 2 and 
the study of this book is an excellent introduction to> 
the older Dogmaticians. 

Dr. I/Valther 3 sums up the merits of this compendium,, 
as "great completeness combined with compact brevity , 
exclusion of all extraneous material, exquisite selection, 
and, above all, accurate exegesis of scriptural proof- 
passages, critical comparison, and employment of the 
labors of his predecessors withiu the department of 
dogmatics, and, in addition to Lutheran fidelity in 
doctrine, the expression of a living heart-faith, and a 
mild, pious sensibility." 

8) Conrad Dannhauer (d. 1666), professor of theology 
in the University of Strasburg, where Spener was his 
pupil, had considerable influence through his profound 
exegetieal labors. In his "Hodosophia Christiana," he pres- 
ents the dogmas, in the analytical method from the 
standpoint of a man who is a pilgrim on his way to 

i A very cheap reprint by Preuss. Berlin, 1K64; another edition, 
enlarged by Dr. Walther appeared in 1879— 83*, in 3 vols. St. Louis 
and Dresden. 

2 Prolegomena. 1. De natura theologiae; 2. De scriptura sacra. 
Pars Prima. 1. De Deo; 2. De creatione; 3. De angelis; 4. De 

imagine Dei; 5. De providentia Dei; 6. De beatitudine aeterna; 7. De 
damnatione aeterna; 8. De morte temporali; 9. De resurrectione mor- 
tuorum; 10. De judicio extremo et consummatione seculi. 

Pars Secunda. 1. De Peccato in genere; 2. De peccato originis; 3^ 
De peccatis actualibus. 

Pars Tertia. 1. De gratia Dei; 2. De Christo: a) De persona£hristi, 
b) De statibus exinanitiouis et exaltatio-iis; c) De officio Christi; 3. De 
fide in Christum; 4. De regeneratione et conversione; 5. De justifica- 
tione; 6. De renovatione et bonis operibus; 7. De verbo legis et evan- 
gelii; 8. De sacramentis imgenere; 9. De sacramentis veteris testamen- 
ti; 10. De baptismo; 11 . De sacra coena; 12. De praedestinatione; 13. 
De ecclesia; 14; De ministerio ecclesiastico; 15. Demagistratu politico; 
16. De statu et societate domestica. 

3 In vol. 1. of Lehre und Wehre. See Sketch of Dogmaticians in. 
Schmid's Doctrinal Theology. 



THE ORTHODOX DOGMATICS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 205 

lieaven. He was an ardent champion of Lutheran or- 
thodoxy, and his zeal for the purity of doctrine was 
connected with the most earnest personal piety. He 
wrote against the Romanists, against the Calvinists, 
■and against Syncretism (represented by Calixtus). 

9) Johann Huelsemann (d. 1661), professor of theology 
-at Wittenberg (1629 — 16), and at Leipsic after 1646 ? 
has given us two excellent works on Dogmatics. His 
-compend "Breviarium Theologicd" (1640), was enlarged in 
his "Extensio breviarii" of 1648. His opponents spoke of 
his style as "stilum barbarum, scholasticum, holcoti- 
<mm, scoticum ac tenebrosum." 

10) Johann Friedrich Kcenig (d. 1664), successively 
Swedish court-preacher, professor of theology at Greifs- 
wald (1651), superintendent of Mecklenburg and Ratze- 
burg (1656), and professor of theology at Rostock, 
after 1659, was one of the "dogmatic virtuosi" of the 
seventeenth century. His compend "Theologia positiva 
acroamat/ca" was often republished, and widely used as a 
text-book, and forms the foundation of Quenstedt's 
famous work It is more scientific than the "Compend" 
of Hutter. Buddeus: "The author comprehended much 
in a few words and in a forcible manner ; but, by an ex- 
cessive desire of brevity and accuracy, produced a mere 
skeleton, destitute of sap and blood." 

11) Johann Schemer (d. 1683), professor of theology 
at Leipsic, in his "Breviculus theologicus" (1678) sought 
to present a system of dogmatics in a still shorter and 
more concise form than Koenig, which, however, he en- 
larged in his "Systema theo/og/'ce" (1680), but he is not 
happy in his definitions. He also wrote the best Pro- 
testant work against the Roman Catholic controver- 
sialist, Bellarmine (d. 1621). 

12) Abraham Calovius 1 (d. 1686), professor of theology 
i See p. 198, and note on p. 195. 



206 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

at Wittenberg after 1650, represents the strictest school 
of orthodoxy, and wrote ably on all departments of 
theology. His "Systema Locorum Theologicorum" (12 vols. 
1655—77), is the most compact and comprehensive re- 
presentation of Lutheran dogmatics, the true exemplar 
of what has been called Lutheran Scholasticism. 1 His 
writings are more polemical than dogmatical. His great 
exegetical work "Biblia ///ustrata" is mainly a refutation 
of the Commentaries of Grotius. 

13) Johann Quenstedi (d. 1688), professor of theology 
at Wittenberg (1649—88), has been called "the book- 
keeper of the Wittenberg orthodoxy." His "Theologia 
didactica polemica," which appeared in 1685, is one of the 
most important works of Lutheran theology, and is. 
noted for its accurate classification of dogmatic mate- 
rial. On account of the objectivity of his treatment, 
and his thorough acquaintance with the literature of his 
own times, Quenstedt, next to Gerhard, is the most in- 
structive representative of the orthodox dogmatics. 

"It possesses little originality, and follows closely 
the outline of Koenig, but shows the greatest erudition 
in its citation of authorities, and skill in rendering the- 
work of reference easy. The objection, however, is often 
made, that Quenstedt, by his excessive attention to the- 
details of his system, has deprived dogmatic theology 
of life, by reducing its doctrines to the shape of mathe- 
matical formulas. 2 

14) David Hollaz (d. 1713) is especially known by his 
work "Examen iheologicum aero am at i cum" (1707)/ Th& 
great popularity of this work was not due to its orig- 
inality of thought, but to the clearness and terseness of 
its definitions, and especially to the genial and irenic 

i The first four volumes are more thorough in their treatment 
than the later volumes. 

2 See Sketch of Quenstedt in Appendix to Schmid's Doctrinal 
Theology. 



THE ORTHODOX DOGMATICS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 207 

tone and the living scriptural character of its theology. 
He is the last of the strict Lutheran theologians, but in 
■the period of transition between the seventeenth and 
eighteenth century, took an intermediate position be- 
tween Lutheran orthodoxy and pietism. 

In the form of questions and answers he recapitulates 
with great clearness and compactness the results at- 
tained by his predecessors. 1 

4. The Reformed or Calvinistic Dogmaticians of this period. 
The dogmatics of the Lutheran Church had its home 
in Germany and bears a character of unity and continu- 
ity; the Reformed dogmatics, on the other hand, was 
developed in various lands and under the influence of 
different schools of thought. The dogmatic theology 

i The synopsis of the whole work is as follows: 

Propaedia Theoloaica. 

1. De theologiae constitutione, pp. 1 — 34; 2. De religione et arti- 
culis fidei, pp. 34—64; 3. De scriptura sacra, pp. 64 — 198. 

PaediaTheologica. 

Pars Prima. 1. He Deo, pp. 198—295; 2. De mvsterio Trinitatis, 
pp. 296—361; 3. De creatione, pp 361— 385; 4. De angelis, pp 385— 
416; 5. De homine, pp. 416 — 432; 6. I »e provideutia divina, pp. 432 — 
463; 7. De beatitudine aeterna, pp. 463—471. 

Pars Secunda. 1. De imagine Dei, pp. 471—499; 2. De peccato in 
genere, pp 499—516; 3. De peccato originali. pp 516—546; 4. De 
peccato actuali, pp 546 — 576; 5. De defectu liberi arbitrii in spirituali- 
bu3, pp. 567—592. 

Pars Tertia. *. De salutis principiis. 1. De benevolentia Dei uni- 
versale pp. 593—612; 2. De praedestinatione, pp. 612—659; 3. De per- 
sona Christi, pp 660—787; 4. I -e vocatione, pp. 787—812; 5. De illu- 
rainatione, pp. 813—847; 6. De conversione, pp. 848— 870; 7. De re- 
generatione, pp. 871—888; 8. De justificatione, pp. 888—927; 9. De 
unione mystica, pp. 927—942; 10. De renovatione, pp. 942—958; 11. 
De conservatione, pp. 958—966; 12. De glorificatione, pp. 966—984. 

B. De mediis salutis. 1. De verbo legis, pp. 985—1022; 2. De verbo- 
evangelii, pp. 1022—1041; 3. De Sacramentis, pp. 1041—1067; 4. De 
baptismo, pp. 1067—1094, 5. De eucharista, pp. 1995— 1136; 6. De- 
poenitentia et contritione, pp. 1136—1157; 7. De fide in Christum, pp. 
1157—1184; 8. De bonis operibus, pp. 1184—1214; 9. De morte et de 
resurrectione mortuorum, pp. 1214—1233; 10. De extremo judicio et 
de consummatione mundi, pp. 1233 — 1264. 

Pars Quarta. 1. De ecclesia, pp. 1265 — 1325; 2. De ministerio eccle- 
siastico, pp. 1326—1349; 3. De magistratu politico, pp. 1350—1365; 4.. 
De statu ceconomico, pp. 1366—1384. 



:208 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

of the Eeformed Church was cultivated mainly in the 
Netherlands, where w T e meet with Arminianism and 
Calvinism in conflict, with a scholasticism in compar- 
ison with which that of Quenstedt is only child's play, 
with the philosophy of Descartes, and the federal theol- 
ogy of Cocceius. In England we meet with latitudina- 
rianism and deism, and in France with the teachings of 
Amyraldus. 

The centers of Reformed Theology, in Switzerland, 
were Basel, Berne, Zurich, and especially Geneva; in 
Grermany, Heidelberg; in the Netherlands, Franeker, 
Utrecht, Groningen, and above all, Leyden; in France, 
Saumur, Montauban, and Sedan. 

a) Germany. 

The Reformed theology of Germany assumed a pecu- 
liar type known as the German Reformed theology. Al- 
though it had a Melanchthonian element, it was still 
Calvinistic in its tendency. It took its origin in the 
Palatinate, and had received its expression in the Hei- 
delberg Catechism (1562). 

1) Bartholomew Keckermann (d. 1609), at one time 
professor at Heidelberg, died when he was only thirty- 
eight years old. His "Systema theologice" was widely 
used. Heppe says of him that the height of the relig- 
ious and philosophical speculation, and of the dialetic 
skill, of the German Reformed dogmatics, is found in his 
system. 

2) Johann Alsted (d. 1638), who represented the 
Reformed Church of Nassau at the Synod of Dort,1618, 
was a very prolific writer, and his works give a striking 
idea of the literary and scientific attainments of his 
age. The various theological disciplines were discussed 
by him in separate works. "Theologia Scholasiica didac- 
tica" (1618), "Theol. polemica" (1620), "Theol. prophe- 
iica," etc. 



THE ORTHODOX DOGMATICS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 209 

3) Markus Fried rich Wendelin (d. 1652), was one of the 
<chief representatives of Reformed Scholasticism. In his 
"Christianas iheologice systema majus" published after his 
death, in 1656, he pays a great deal of attention to the 
"absurdas Lutheran orum opiniones," and accusesthem 
of Pelagianism. 

b) Switzerland. . 

1) Amandus Polanus (d. 1610) composed ^''Syntagma 
theol. Christ". (1610), which was held in high repute. Gass 
says that Polanus gave the first example of an elabora- 
tion of the doctrinal system, expounding and making 
distinctions in the causal method. 

2) Johannes Wolleb (d. 1629), professor of theology 
at Basel, 1618—29, published only one book, his "Com- 
pendium theo/ogice Christianas," 1626, but it established his 
reputation as one of the great theologians of the Re- 
formed Church. The work is noted for its clearness and 
precision and the perfect order of its arrangement. 

3) Benedict Pictet (d. 1724), professor of theology at 
Geneva (1702 — 24) was an able and voluminous writer. 
His "Theologia Christiana" (1696 in 11 vols.) was much 
valued. 

c) The Netherlands. 

Among the Arminians we may mention the great 
divines Episcopius, Grotius, and Limborch. 

1) Simon Episcopius (d. 1643), professor of theology 
at Leyden (1611—18), at Amsterdam (1634—43), 
among other works wrote "Institutiones Theologies" and 
"Responsio ad Quaestiones Theologicas," which became the 
standard works of Arminian theology. 

2) Hugo Grotius (d. 1645) espoused the cause of the 
Arminians. In his "Defensio fidei Catholicae de satisfactions 
Christi (1617), written to clear himself from the charge 
of Socinianism, he first propounded what is known as 
<*the Governmental Theory of the Atonement." Accord- 



210 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

ing to this view, the right to relax the demands of the* 
law, at will, belongs to God's prerogative as moral 
governor. Christ's death was not a vicarious atone- 
ment, not a real satisfaction of the justice of God, but 
the benevolence of God requires, that, as a precondition 
of the forgiveness of any sinner, he should furnish such, 
an example of suffering in Christ as will exhibit his deter- 
mination that sin shall not go unpunished. His apolo- 
getic work "De veritate relig. chrisi." (1627), designed for 
seamen who came in contact with Mohammedans and 
heathens, has been translated into many languages. 

3) Philip van Limborch (d. 1712), professor of theology 
at Amsterdam (1668—1712), completed the work which 
Episcopius began and Curcellaeus (d. 1659) continued. 
His "Instituiiones Theologiae Christian ae" 1 (1686) is the- 
most complete exposition of the Arminian doctrine 
extant, and is noted for its perspicuity and judicious 
selection of material. 

Over against these defenders of Arminianism, in 
strict adherence to the praedestinarian views of Calvin, 
may be mentioned Gomarus, Maccovius, Maresius, and 
Yoetius. 

4) Francis Gomarus (d. 1641), professor of theology 
at Ley den, Saumur, and Groningen, was the leader of 
the extreme Calvinistic party, and the declared adver- 
sary of Arminianism. He and his followers (the Gom- 
arists) were Supralapsarians, i. e. they held that God 
not only foresaw and permitted, but actually decreed 
the fall of man, but overruled it for his redemption. His 
"Loci theol." appeared in 1644. 

5) Joannes Maccovius (d. 1644), professor of theology 
at Franeker (1615 — 44) was famous as a disputant. In 
his "Loci Communes" (1626), he adopts the scholastic 
method of treatment. 

i Translated into English by William Jones, London, 1702. 



THE ORTHODOX DOGMATICS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 211 

6) Samuel Mares/us (d. 1673), professor of theology 
at Groningen (1643—77), wrote many polemical works 
(against the Amyraldists, the Socinians, the Jesuits, the 
Cartesians, the Federalists, etc.). 

7) Gysbertus Voetius (d. 1676), professor of theology 
at Utrecht (1634 — 76), was a pupil of Gomarus, and a 
strict Calvinist both in doctrine and in policy. He re- 
garded Arminianism as of the greatest danger to. the 
Dutch Reformed Church, and waged war against it to 
the bitter end. He also strongly opposed the federalism 
of Cocceius and the philosophical views of Descartes. 

The philosophical system of Descartes gave rise to 
violent controversies, and left its impress upon the doc- 
trinal views of the Reformed Church, for the theologians 
who belonged to this school, attempted to reconcile the 
principles of natural and revealed theology. 

8) Rene Descartes (d. 1650, in Stockholm), was the 
great master of the system of philosophical rational- 
ism. Starting from the principle de omnibus est dub/tan - 
dum, Descartes arrived at his cogito, ergo sum, as the ulti- 
mate fact of consciousness which cannot be doubted. A 
most powerful opposition arose against him in the 
Church Voetius, in 1639, charged him with Atheism, 
his philosophy was condemned in 1647 and again in 
1676 by the university of Leyden, as well as by the 
Synod of Delft in 1657. 

Over against its serious errors, the philosophy of 
Descartes has given to the world some fruitful truths. 
He established the authority of reason in its own 
sphere, and on the witness of consciousness he has con- 
structed a barrier sufficiently strong to resist the efforts 
of skepticism and a narrow, false theology. Among 
other things he has shed special light on the idea of the 
infinite, and Deism may be said to have been philosoph- 
ically annihilated by him. 



212 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

The Federal Theology originated with Cocceius, 
and is represented by Burmann, Leydecker, Witsius and 
Van Til. 

9) Johannes Cocceius (d. 1669), professor of theology 
at Bremen (1629), Fraueker (1636), at Leyden (1650), 
was the founder of the Federal Theology. 1 His principal 
works, in which his views are developed are his "Summa 
Doctrinae" (1648), and "Summa Theologiae." He drew his 
theology directly from the Bible, and from it alone ; and 
thus he put himself in opposition to the scholastics and 
the Cartesians. But as an interpreter Cocceius is open 
to the charge of fancifulness. Heppe says: "The fruit 
of his influence on the Keformed Dogmatics was to lead 
theologians back to the Bible, delivering it from the 
bondage of a traditional scholasticism." 

10) Franz Burmann (d. 1679), professor of theology 
at Utrecht fl 662—79). in his "Synopsis Theologiae" 
(1671) attempts to reconcile the doctrines of Cocceius 
and those of the orthodox Reformed Church, and em- 
bodies the results of the Federal theology in a permanent 
form. 

11) Melchoir Leydecker (d. 1721), professor of the- 
ology at Utrecht (1679—1721) simplified the Federal 
theology and treated the whole system of theology in 
the order of the three persons of the Trinity, approxi- 
mating very closely to the Reformed dogmatics in its 
traditional form. He presents his system most fully in 
his "De cdconomia trium personarum," etc., (1682). 

12) Hermann Witsius (d. 1708), professor of theology 
at Franeker (1675—80), Utrecht (1680—98) and Ley- 
den (1698 — 1708), in his De aconomia foederum Dei cum 

i His whole doctrinal system was founded upon the idea of a 
covenant between God and man. He distinguished between 1) the 
covenant before the fall (of works), and 2) the covenant after the fall 
(of grace). This latter he divides into three economies: 1) the economy 
prior to the law, 2) under the law, and 3) of the Gospel. 



THE ORTHODOX DOGMATICS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 213 

hominibus" 1 endeavored to mediate between the orthodox 
Reformed and the Federalists, but as usual pleased 
neither party, least of all the Federalists, to whom he be- 
longed, who accused him of sinning against the Holy 
Ghost. The work itself is in no way remarkable. 

13) Solomon van Til (d. 1713), professor of theology 
at Dort and Ley den, was one of the ablest of the Re- 
formed divines. In his "Theologiae utriusque compendium 
turn naturalis turn revelatae" (1704), he endeavored to set 
forth a system which combined Scholasticism, Cartesian- 
ism, and Federalism. 

d) England and Scotland. 2 

The Reformation in England ended by showing itself 
decidedly Calvinistic. Scotland, with the Presbyterian 
form of government, also received from John Knox the 
principles of Calvinism. The Church of England, during 
the beginning of the seventeenth century, was represent- 
ed by Richard Hooker, Field, Jackson, and Archbishop Laud, 
and during the latter half, by Bull, Jeremy Taylor, Stilling- 
fleet, Waterland, Beveridge, Pearson, and Burnet. In the 
Established Church there were still some who held to the 
doctrines of the Reformed theology, such as Leighton, 
and Robert South. The more distinctive Puritan theol- 
ogy was advocated by Charnock, John Bunyan, Richard 
Baxter, John Owen, and John Howe. The Scotch divines as 
a rule, of whom we may mention Thomas Boston, and 
the New England divines of this period, such as John 
Cotton, and Cotton Mather, were strict Calvinists. 

There were also other phases of theological opinion 
in England. A Platonizing tendency was represented 
by Ralph Cud worth, and under Latitudinarianism we 

i English translation in 3 vols., one in 1765, and another in 1771. 
Last edition in 2 vols., London, 1837. 

2. Compare Hagenbach's History of Doctrines, edited bv Henrv B. 
Smith. Vol. 2, pp. 182—193. See also Perrv's History of the Cnurc'h of 
England, pp. 358—586, New York, 1&80. 



214 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

may class such names as Chillingworth, Tillotson, and 
Samuel Clarke. 

1) Richard Hooker (d. 1600), was one of the most 
eminent divines of the Church of England. His "Eccle- 
siastical Polity, 1 more than any other work, has given 
shape to the theology of the English Church. 

2) Richard Field (d. 1616) was an intimate friend 
of Hooker, and in his famous work "Of the Church"* 
treats of the nature, members, and government of the 
true Church. He takes the moderate view of the Epis- 
copacy. 

3) Thomas Jackson* (d. 1640), was originally a Cal- 
vinist, but became an Arminian. 

4) William Laud± (beheaded 1644), archbishop of 
Canterbury, was the great High- Churchman of this 
period, and has been called the "English Cyprian. " 

5) George Bull (d. 1710), Bishop of St. David's, in his 
"Defensio Fidei Nicence"* (1685) in a most learned manner 
attempts to show that the orthodox doctrine of the 
Trinity existed fully developed in the Christian Church 
before the Council of Nicaea. 

6) Jeremy Taylor (d. 1667), "the Chrysostom of En- 
glish theology, but in brilliancy of imagination surpass- 
ing his Greek antitype," 6 was decidedly anti Calvinistic 
and anti-Puritan, and not altogether free from Pelag- 
ianizing tendencies, but approximated very closely to 
the Lutheran doctrine of the Sacraments. He is best 
known, however, by his devotional works, such as*"//o// 
Living," and "Holy Dying," and his "Life of Christ." 

i Best edition by Keble. 

2 Republished in 4 vols., Cambridge, 1847. 

3 His works, of which his ommentaries on the Apostles' Creed is 
the b est. have been republished in 12 vols. Oxford, 1844. 

4 His works have been republished in 7 vols., Oxford, 1853. 

5 Now translation in 2 vols., Oxford, 1851—52. Best edition of 
his works by Burton in 8 vols., Oxford, 1827, 1846. 

6 Stoughtonin Schaff Herzog. 



THE ORTHODOX DOGMATICS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 215 

7) Edward Stillingfleet (d. 1699), Bishop of Worcester, 
-an able metaphysician as well as theologian, was an ar- 
dent opponent to Romanism, and took an active in- 
terest in the Trinitarian controversy of the age. 

8) Daniel Waterland (d. 1740), was the bold defender 
of the orthodox doctrine against the Arians and Socin- 
ians of his time. Against the views of Samuel Clarke he 
wrote his masterly works on " Christ's Divinity."^ 

9) William Beveridge* (d. 1708), Bishop of St. Asaph, 
has been styled "the great; reviver and restorer of prim- 
itive piety." Among his works we may mention his 
"Doctrine of the Church of England" and his "Thesaurus Theo- 
logicus." 

10) John Pearson (d. 1686), Bishop of Chester, was 
one of the great divines of the Church of England, and 
his great work "Exposition of the Creed" 3 is a standard to 
this day. 

11)' Gilbert Burnet (d. 1715), Bishop of Salisbury, 
mainly known for his historical labors, wrote his "Expo- 
sition of the Thirty -nine Articles" in 1699. 

12) Robert Leighton (d. 1684), principal of the Uni- 
versity of Edinburgh, Bishop of Dunblane (1661—72), 
Archbishop of Glasgow (1672—74), was one of the 
noblest characters of his day. 

13) Robert South (d. 1716) was a strong Calvinist, 
and though anti-Puritan in civil and ecclesiastical 
polity, was a Puritan in theology. As a preacher few in 
the English Church have ever excelled him. His mastery 
of English is almost unrivalled. 

14) Stephen Charnock (d. 1680) is best known by his 
able "Discourses on the Existence and Attributes of God," a 
work which is an acknowledged masterpiece. 

i His works appeared in a new edition, in 6 vols., 1843. 

2 His works were republished, in 12 vols., Oxford, 1844 — 48. 

3 Best edition that of Chevallier. 



216 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

15) John Bunyan (d. 1688), a Baptist, thYough hm 
immortal work, the "Pilgrim's Progress" has aided great- 
ly in spreading evangelical truths among the lowly and 
ignorant. Coleridge regards this book as "incomparably 
the best Summa Theologice Evangelicce ever produced by a 
writer not miraculously inspired." Its style is invalua- 
ble as a study to every person who wishes to obtain a 
wide command of the English language. 

16) Richard Baxter (d. 1691) was noted as a preacher, 
a pastor, a teacher, and a theologian. Inclined to* 
Calvinism, he was nevertheless independent in his theol- 
ogical views. He sought to find a common platform 
upon which all could meet— Calvinist and Arminian,, 
Episcopalian and Presbyterian, Protestant and Roman- 
ist. A most voluminous writer, Baxter is mainly known 
by his ' Saints' Everlasting Rest," which is only readable in 
an abridgment of an abrigment. His chief work was his 
"Method us Theologiae Christiana," a Latin work of nine 
hundred folio pages, published in 1681. 

17 John Owen 1 (d. 1683) was the most eminent of 
the Independent divines of this period. He was a strong 
Calvinist, and has written on almost all theological 
topics. 

18) John Howe (d. 1705), one of Cromwell's chap- 
lains, through his various works, has left an impress 
on Puritan theology. Robert Hall: "I have learned more 
from John Howe than any author I ever read." 

19) Thomas Boston 2 f</.1732) exercised a great influ- 
ence over the Presbyterian churches in Scotland, and 
England. He is best known by his "Complete Body of 
Divinity," and his "Fourfold State." 

20)John Cotton (d. at Boston, 1652), wasa volumin- 

i Latest edition of his works in 17 vols.; PhiPa., 1865 — 69. 
2 Collected edition of his works in 12 vols.. London, 1852. 



THE ORTHODOX DOGMATICS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 217' 

ous writer 1 , and one of the most noted of the Puritans 
in America. 

21) Cotton Mather (d. 1728) is the author of three 
hundred and eighty-two separate works, of which sever- 
al are elaborate volumes, while the great work of his life 
(in his own view), his Biblia Americana still remains in 
manuscript. 

22) Ralph Cudworth (d. 1688), an English Platonist, 
occupied an intermediate position between the Puritanic 
and Komanizing tendencies of his time, and was an able- 
champion of revealed religion against the reigning 
Deism. His fame rests on his great work "The True Intel- 
lectual System of the Universe.'" 2 

23) William Chilli ngworth (d. 1644) is best known by 
his famous work "The Religion of Protestants a safe way to 
Salvation," which is an able vindication of Protestantism. 
"The Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible, 
is the religion of Protestants." 

24) John Tillotson (d. 1694), Archbishop of Canter- 
bury, was a Latitudinarian in his tendencies, being in- 
fluenced partly by the writings of Chillingworth. He 
ranks among the foremost of English preachers, and 
was strongly opposed to popery. 

25) Samuel Clarke (d. 1729), was a philosopher as 
well as theologian, and defended the Newtonian philos- 
ophy against Leibnitz. His fame chiefly rests upon his 
"Discourse upon the Being and Attributes of God," and his 
"Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity." This last work exposed 
him to the charge of Arianism. 

e) France. 

The French, school of Amyraldists was preceded in 
certain respects by Cameron, as Amyraut was his pupil. 

i Dexter in his Congregationalism, as seen in its Literature, mentions 
36 of his publications. 

2 The occasion of its appearance was the philosophy of Hobbes 
(1588—1679). 



218 INTEODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

Its great opponent was Heidegger. The doctrine was 
renewed by Pajon and Papin. 

1) John Cameron (d. 1625), professor of theology at 
Saumur (1618) and at Montauban (1624), taught the 
imputation of Christ's passive obedience alone, and 
advocated the theory of what is known as "hypothetic 
universalism," which was more fully developed by his 
pupil Amyraut. He was not an Arminian, however, as 
is shown by his "Defensio de gratia et libero arbitrio" 
(1624). 

2) Moses Amyraut (Amyraldus) (</.1664), professor 
of theology at Saumur (1633—64), in his "Traite de la 
Predestination" expounded the doctrines of grace and pre- 
destination not in accordance with the formulas of the 
Synod of Dort. His views have been described as "the 
combination of a real particularism with a merely ideal 
universalism." The Formula Consensus was drawn up 
against his views in Geneva, 1675. 

3) Johann Heinrich Heidegger (d. 1698), professor of 
theology at Heidelberg, Steinfurt (1659), and Zurich 
(1665), was the great opponent of Amyraldism. He 
drew up the Formula Consensus Avhich was adopted by the 
city of Zurich in 1675. His ''Corpus Theologiae Christianae" 
was often reprinted. 

4) Claude Pajon (d. 1685), for a short time professor 
of theology at Saumur, is the father of the so-called 
Pajonism, a peculiar development of the doctrinal 
system of the French Reformed Church. A follower of 
Amyraldus, he denied the immediate concurrence in 
providence, and the immediate influence of the Holy 
Spirit in conversion. 

5) Isaac Papin (d. 1709), a pupil of Pajon, departed 
more and more from the Reformed doctrines, and finally 
embraced Romanism, in 1690. 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE PERIOD OF TRANSITION. 219 

§ 19. The Dogmatics of the Period of Transition. 

The dogmatics of this period shows partly a 
reactionary character over against the tradi- 
tionalism and formalism which, in a certain 
measure, pervaded Theology, and partly a pro- 
gressive character in which were conflicting ele- 
ments, — the one of which tended to a better life, 
the other toward rationalistic apostasy. 

/. The Dogmatics of Pietism. 1 

Pietism denotes a movement in the Lutheran Church 
which arose as a reaction of the living, practical faith 
against a dead orthodoxy. It grew from the very prin- 
ciples of the Lutheran Reformation, and would, no 
doubt, have developed, even though there had been no 
dead orthodoxy to react upon. 

1) Johann Valentin Andrew (d. 1654), a grandson of 
Jacob Andrea? (d. 1590) had already waged a polemic 
against the scholasticism and dogmatism of the Lu- 
theran theology of his time, but in the seventeenth cen- 
tury we have only to do with Pietism in its early stage, 
and the whole movement centres around the person of 
Spener. 

2) Philip Jacob Spener (d. 1705) was one of the purest 
and most spotless in character of the theologians of 
the seventeenth century. 2 In theological culture he was 

i See H. Schmid: Geschichte des Pietismus: Nordlingen, 1863. A. 
Bitschl: Geschichte des Pietismus. 2 vols., Bonn, 1880—1884. 

2 During his university course, at Strassburg, he lived a very 
retired life, devoting himself entirely to his books His theological 
teachers were principally Dannhauer, Johann and Sebastian Schmid, 
the last named being the most famous exegete of his day. According 
to the custom of the times he completed his studies by visiting the 
different universities. He first went to Basel to receive instruction 
•of the younger Buxtorf, at that time the most celebrated teacher of 
Hebrew on the Continent. Afterwards he spent a year at Geneva, 



220 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY, 

equal to any of his contemporaries. It was his principle 
to submit to the Confessions of the Church, and even 
Calovius himself, the great champion of orthodoxy, ac- 

and also five month*? in Stuttgart and Tuebingen, and his qualities of 
mind and heart gained him many friends in Wuertemberg. In 1666, 
although only thirty one years of age, on account of his distinguished 
talentn and rare learning, which wan profound, thorough, and com- 
prehensive, extending even beyond the sphere of theology and philos- 
ophy, he was chosen senior pastor in Frankfurt-a in-Main. 

Although most heartily attached to the Lutheran Church, be be- 
lieved that in adhering to its then prevalent oil ;hodoxy,it had depart- 
ed from the earnest, lively Gospel of the Reformers, and was in danger 
of burying its talent in a sterile theology of words and dead ortho- 
doxy. He aimed at a reform, and this should consist in an inner, 
living theology of the heart, and a demonstration thereof in I im- 
piety of life. He first of all attempted to revive a thorough system 
of catechetical instruction, and especially attacked the system ol 
mechanical memorizing, which was then as common as now. In 
1070, after he had been four years in Frankfurt, be invited to a kind 
of friendly re-union in his study, for the purpose of mutual edification, 
the most serious-minded persons in his congregation, and thus con- 
stituted the so-called collegia pietatis. In 1082, twelve years later, 
Spener was able to change his private meetings into public gather- 
ings, and transfer them from 1 he study to the church. 

In the meantime he had published (1075) his famous Pia Desideria, 
in which he laments the corruption of the Church, and he recommends 
six different remedies. These remedies were; I) The spreading of a 
more general and more intimate acquaintance with the Bible, by 
means of private gatherings: 2) Laying more stress upon the uni- 
versal priesthood of believers, and using the co-operation of laymen 
in the spiritual guidance of the congregation; ■'>) Emphasizing the 
fact thai a knowledge of Christianity must be accompanied by a cor- 
responding Christian practice, in order to be of any value; 4) instead 
of attacking heretics and infidels with merely doctrinal and generally 
more or less embittered polemics, we should use love as our motive 
power; 5) A re-organization of theological study, so us to make a 
godly life as import ant a pact of tbe preparation for ministerial 
work, as study and learning; 6) A new manner of preaching, — a re- 
turn to the earnest method of Apostolic times. 

This work of'Spener found an echo in many hearts in Germany, 
and Spener ever afterwards adhered to these propositions, and de- 
fended them against all attacks. 

The first opposition to Spener came from the university of Leip 
sic, under the leadership of Jobann Benedict Carpzov and Albert! , 
which was aggravated by the founding of the new university at 
Halle, which immediately became the home of Pietism, and was 
thronged by crowds of students. It was at Halle that Franeke, 
Breithaupt, and Anton, as members of the theological faculty, ea> 
erted such a wide influence as tbe later Leaders of the pietistic move- 
ment. 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE PERIOD OF TRANSITION. 221 

knowledged that he found nothing heterodox in Spener. 
And such, indeed, is the case, for he is in perfect harmony 
and accord with the greatest theologian of them all, 
Johann Gerhard. 

It was Spener who gave character to Pietism in its 
first stages, but he cannot be called the father of Pietism 
as it was developed later at Halle and elsewhere. 

In the department of Dogmatics, the Pietistic School 
originated very little. Though Spener's list of works 
embraces seven volumes folio, sixty-three in quarto,, 
seven in octavo, and forty-six in duodecimo, still they 
are mainly practical. 

3) Joachim Justus Breithaupt (d. 1732), professor of 
theology at Halle (1691—1704), w T here together with 
Francke and Anton, he gave the whole theological 
study its peculiar character and tendency, pub- 
lished "Institutiones Theological," 1 and "Theses credendorum 
et agendorum fundamentals" (1700). The lectures of Paul 
Anton (d. 1730) "Collegium Antitheticum," based on the 
"Theses" of Breithaupt, were published after his death 
in 1732. . 

4) Johann Anastasius Freylinghausen 2 (d. 1739) was 
also one of the leaders of the Pietistic movement in 

The Pietistic controversy, in contrast with the thorough theol- 
ogical discussions of previous decades, was entirely of a personal and 
bitter character, and the opponents of Spener do not appeartoagood 
advantage. Deutschmann, the senior of the Faculty of Wittenberg, did 
more harm than good to his cause, when in hisCh istlutnensche Vorstel- 
lung (1695) he accused Spener of two hundred and eighty-three here- 
sies. All these accusations, and the various other polemical writings, 
Spener answered in a becoming spirit, and in 1705 he peacefully en- 
tered into his final rest. 

i 2 vols. Halle, 1694; much enlarged, 3 vols, 1732. 

2 His most valuable productions are 44 Hymns. He also pub- 
lished one of the best German Hymn Books, 2 vols., Halle, 1704 and 
1713. The historical significance of this collection consists in its 
pietistic spirit, and the introduction of the element of subjective de- 
votion as a supplement to the older, more objective and churchly 
hymns of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 



222 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

Germany, and succeeded August Hermann Francke (d. 
1727), the founder of the Orphan House at Halle, in 
1727. His principal theological work, "Grundlegung der 
Theologie" (1703) is noted for its piety and practical 
tendency, in opposition- to the dry and cold scholasti- 
cism which then prevailed in the German Universities. 

5) Johann Jakob Rambach (d. 1785), professor of the- 
ology at Halle and Giessen, exercised a considerable in- 
fluence as a mediator between Pietism and the Wolffian 
philosophy. His "Schriftmassige Erklarung der Grundle- 
gung der Theologie" was published by Freylinghausen in 
1738. 

6) Joachim Lange (d. 1744) professor of theology at 
Halle after 1709, was the literary representative of the 
Pietists. In his controversy with the orthodox Church, 
in which Lange acted as spokesman of the Pietists, he 
was far from being a match for Valontin Ernst Loscher (d. 
1749), the acknowledged leader of the orthodox party, 
the author of "Timotheus Verinus," of which the first part 
appeared in 1718, and the second in 1722. Loscher 
accused the Pietists of being indifferent to the truths 
of revelation systematized in the symbolical books, of 
depreciating the sacraments a»nd the ministerial office, 
of obscuring the doctrine of justification by faith by 
asserting that good works, were necessarily connected 
with saving faith, its evidence, indeed,— and he al- 
together rejected the chiliastic, terministic, and perfec- 
tionistic doctrines which had developed among the 
Pietists 1 In almost every point there was some rea- 
son for the opposition of Loscher, and he was not a 
mere dogmatist; on the contrary, he advocated the 
cause of practical piety almost with as much warmth 
as Pietists themselves. 

Nevertheless, the fundamental ideas of Spener and 
i See Riggenbach in Schaff-Herzog under Pietism. 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE PERIOD OF TRANSITION. 22& 

his followers were too intimately related to the very 
principles of the Reformation, not to find a wide ac- 
ceptance. In less than half a century Pietism spread 
its influence through all spheres of life, and through all 
classes of society; and though it had to give way, in 
Northern Germany, to the rising rationalism, it found 
a new home in Southern Germany. What Spener, 
Francke, Anton, Breithaupt, Arnold, and others had 
been to Prussia and Saxony, Bengel, Weismann, Oetin^ 
ger, Hahn and others were to Wuertemberg and Baden. 
To the period of the later Pietism belong three ten- 
dencies which stand in part in a reciprocal operation 
with it. These are the Biblical, the Historical, and the 
Philosophical tendencies. 

2. The Biblical Tendency. 

This tendency has its home by pre-eminence in Wuer- 
temberg. Among its most prominent representatives 
we may mention Bengel, Crusius, Oetinger, Rieger, and 
Roos. 

1) Johann Albrecht Bengel 1 (d. 1752), by the publica- 
tion of his "Greek Testament" and an "Apparatus Criticus" 
(1734), laid the foundation for the science of Textual 
Criticism. His famous canon was, "The more difficult 
reading is to be preferred." This work was followed by 
his "Gnomon Novi Testament/'" 2 (1742), which remains to 
this day "a treasure house of exposition delivered in 
sentences whose point, clearness, brevity, and wondrous 
depth of meaning, render them not only worthy of pa- 
tient study, but a part of the mental stores of the at- 
tentive student." His main principle of interpretation 

i Compare Burk: Memoir of Life and Writings of John Albert Bengel. 
From the German. London, 1837; Wachter: J.A.Bengel's Lebensabriss. 
Stuttgart, 1865. 

2 Best English edition byBlackleyand FT awes, with Introduction. 
by Dr. Weidner. 3 vols. Fleming H. Revell Co. 



224 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

was "to put nothing into the Scriptures, but to draw 
everything from them, and suffer nothing to remain 
hidden that is really in them." His motto was: Te 
totum applica ad textum; rem to tarn app/ica ad te. With a 
profound reverence for the Bible, with an acuteness 
which let nothing escape him, and in strict conformity 
to grammatical rules, bub untrammeled by dogmatical 
or symbolical considerations, he sought ;o find out the 
exact meaning of Scripture. His exegetical principles 
left their impress upon his dogmatic system (for in 
theology he was but a moderate Lutheran), and this 
displays itself most fully in his views of the historical 
development of the kingdom of God, and in his realistic 
interpretation of the Book of Kevelation. 

2) Christian August Crusius (d. 1775), professor of 
theology at Leipsic (1750—75), was the staunch adver- 
sary of the Wolffian philosophy, and in theology he de- 
fended the tradition of the Church, as an element in true 
•exegesis, against Ernesti, whose exegetical principle ad- 
mitted only a purely grammatical interpretation. The 
views of Crusius are most fully presented in his "Hypom- 
nemata ad theologiam propheticam." 1 

3) Friedrich Christoph Oetinger 2 (d. 1782), the great 
•Swabian theosophist of the eighteenth century, exer- 
cised a great influence in the pietistic circles of Wurtem- 
berg. Bengel with whom he corresponded, became his 
ideal in theology, Boehme, in philosophy, and at a later 
time, Sweden borg. He sought to construct a sacred 
philosophy, and to find out by investigation the origin- 

i Part I. General Introduction, 1764; Part II. On select pas- 
sages, 1771; Part III. on Isaiah, 1779, See also Franz Delitzsch : 
Die biblisch-proph. Theologie, ihre Fortbidlung durch Crusius, etc. Leipsic, 
1815. 

2 Compare his Selbstbiographie, edited by Hamberger, Stuttgart, 
1815; also Auberlen: 'Oetinger's Theosophie nach ihren Grundsaetzen," 
Tuebingen, 1847" 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE PEEIOD OF TRANSITION. 225 

al, living essence of truth, by studying the two Bibles, — 
nature, and the Word of God. All efforts to separate 
him from the Lutheran Church proved unavailing, and 
in his old age, he said that his entire theology was con- 
centrated in Luther's Catechism. In Wurtemberg he 
had many followers, and he exerted great influence over 
Schilling and von Baader. The peasant Michael Hahn 
was one of his most remarkable followers, and diffused 
his doctrines among the people 1 . 

4) George Conrad Rieger (d. 1743) was one of the most 
celebrated preachers of the pietistic school, and his ser- 
mons are still much read in Wurtemberg. 

5) Magnus Friedrich Roos (d. 1803), was a pupil of 
Bengel, and exercised great influence not only by his 
writings, but also by his magnetic personality. His 
"Christliche Glaubenslehre" is still much read in Wurtem- 
berg (last edition 1860). 

3. The Historical Tendency. 

Out of the conflicts between the orthodox and piet- 
istic school, arose what may be called the historical 
school. The theologians of this school sought to unite 
Lutheran orthodoxy with free investigation, true 
scholarship with religious fervor, strict confessionalism 
with an irenic spirit. Among the most important theol- 
ogians of this tendency we may mention Buddeus,Pfaff, 
Walch, and Mosheim. Three others, also belonging to 
this school, Ernesti, Michaelis, and Semler, though still 
believing in a divine revelation, nevertheless by their 
principles of interpretation, prepared the way for the 
admission of Rationalism into theology. 

1) Johann Franz Buddeus (d. 1729), professor of theol- 
ogy at Jena after 1705, was a man of genuine piety and 
immense learning. He sought to harmonize orthddoxy 

i See Auberlen in Shaff-Herzog. 



226 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

and pietism. He was distinguished for his fidelity to the 
faith of theChurch, and for his firmness and moderation 
towards those that dissented from it. He wrote more 
than a hundred books, some of which are still acknowl- 
edged authorities. Especially important are his u /nsti- 
iutiones theol. dogm." (1723), "Insiit. theol. mor a/is" (1711), 
and "Isagoge hist. ad theol. universam (1727). 

2) Christof Matthaeus Pfaff (d. 1760) professor of 
theology at Tubingen (1714 — 56), and at Giessen 
(1756—60), was a man of great accomplishments and 
exercised a large influence as a teacher. He was very 
active in promoting a union between the Reformed and 
Lutheran Churches, and his doctrinal standpoint was 
more liberal than the prevailing orthodoxy, as is evi- 
dent from his "Institutiones theologiae" (1719). 

3. Johann Georg Walch (d. 1775), professor of theolo- 
gy at Jena after 1724, took an active part in the phil- 
osophical controversy between Buddeus and Wolff, and 
in his "Phi/osophisches Lexicon" departs from Lutheran 
orthodoxy, opening the way on one side to pietism, and 
on the other for rationalism 1 . 

4) Johann Lorenz von Mosheim (d. 1755), professor of 
theology at Helmstadt (1723—47), and at Gottingen 
(1747 — 54), was the most learned theologian of the Lu- 
theran Church of his day. As a theologian he was op- 
posed to the confessional orthodoxy, on the ground 
that theology would thus be excluded from scientific 
culture. Mosheim made contributions to nearly every 
branch of theological science, but is best known by his 
works in the department of Church History. 

5) Johann August Ernest/' (d. 1781), professor of theol- 
ogy at Leipsic after 1758, enjoyed great fame as a clas- 

i The principal works of Walch are 1) Einleitung in die Religlons- 
streitigkeiten ausser der evang luth. Kirche,(5 vols. 1733—36); 2) Einlei- 
tung, etc. innerhalb der evang luth. Kirche, 5 vols. 1730—39; and an 
edition of Luther's Works in 24 vols. Halle. 1740—52. 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE PERIOD OF TRANSITION. 227 

sical philologist, and in his "Institutio Inierpretis N. T." 1 
(1761), applied the same principles of interpretation to 
the exposition of the Holy Scriptures, thus founding 
the grammatico historical school of interpretation. 
Though Ernesti held to the doctrines of the Church 
and believed in inspiration, still he has rightly been 
called the father of rationalistic exegesis, and his prin- 
ciples undermined the old dogmatical method of inter- 
pretation. 

5) Johann David Michaelis (d. 1791), professor of theol- 
ogy at Gottingen after 1745, bore the same relation to 
the Old Testament as Ernesti did to the New, and was 
by no means a pillar for the waning orthodoxy of the 
times, for in theology he departed widely from the Lu- 
theran orthodoxy, and openly acknowledged that he 
knew nothing of the internal testimony of the Holy 
Spirit. Wis "Commentaries on the Laws of Moses" (4 vols. 
London, 1810), and his "Introduction to the New Testa- 
ment" (6 vols. London, 1823), have been translated 
into English. Kurtz: "No man was a greater master 
than he in the art of substituting his own empty, super- 
ficial, and conceited views for those of the sacred 
authors, and then to explain them at great length. Hi s 
'Commentaries on the Laws of Moses' is a classic in this 
respect." 

7) Johann Solomo Sem/er 2 (1791), professor of theol- 
ogy at Halle after 1757, was a forerunner to Rational- 
ism in a still greater degree than Ernesti and Michaelis. 
Endowed with great gifts, but without any depth of 
spiritual character, he undermined the pillars of ortho- 
doxy, without wishing to touch Christianity itself, by 
disputing the genuineness of certain books of the Bible, 

i Translated into English and published in the Biblical Cabinet, 
Edinburgh, 1834. 

2 See H. Schmid: Die Theologie Semlers. Xordlingen, 1858. 



228 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

by laying down a peculiar theory of inspiration and 
accomodation to the peculiar views of the New Testa- 
ment times, which allowed error and delusion in Script- 
ure, and by treating the history of dogmatics in such a 
way as if the doctrines of the Church were the. result of 
misconception, and want of judgment. He wrote one 
hundred and seventy one separate works, only two of 
which, however, reached a second edition. He sowed 
the wind and reaped a whirlwind, and when the storm 
of rationalism began to rage, Semler died of a broken 
heart. 

4. The Philosophical Tendency. 

This tendency had its origin mainly in Wolff. The 
great stimulating minds of philosophy had been Des- 
cartes, Spinoza, and Leibnitz. Wolff developed and 
methodized the system of Leibnitz. Theological repre- 
sentatives of the philosophical tendency are Reinbeck, 
S. J. Baumgarten and Toellner. 

The philosophy of Descartes (1596—1650) is neither 
a Catholic nor a Protestant philosophy, and gave rise 
to two tendencies, the one pantheistic, the other theistic. 
It was Spinoza (1632—77) who transformed the dualism 
of Descartes into pantheism, whose fundamental con- 
ception was the unity of substance. He has greatly 
impressed himself upon much of the subtlest specula- 
tion of our century. Fichte, Schelling, Schleiermacher, 
Hegel, and many others, owe very much to him. In 
fact, Spinoza has largely contributed to the various 
phases of pantheism so current in our day, and his 
influence upon our own time is larger than upon his 
own . 

The immortal Leibnitz (1646— 1716), the father of 
German philosophy, at once one of the most independ- 
ent thinkers and one of the profoundest scholars of his 



THE DOGxVIATICS OF THE PERIOD OF TRANSITION. 229 

age, arid of all time, exerted a great influence upon the 
theology and general culture of the eighteenth century, 
chiefly through his famous "Theodicy" (1710) in which 
he attempted to demonstrate the agreement of reason 
with faith, and to vindicate God in view of the evil in 
the world, maintaining that there is a harmony be- 
tween the kingdom of nature and grace. His philoso- 
phy was theistic and was directed pre eminently toward 
the union of the theological and cosmological concep- 
tions of the world. 

Christ/an Wolff (1679 — 1754), adopting the theories 
of Leibnitz, modifying them partly with ideas derived 
from Aristotle, so S3 r stematized them, and provided 
them with demonstrations, that he founded a compre- 
hensive system of philosophy. This was done with such 
talent and ability, that nearly all the disciples of Leib- 
nitz in Germany were influenced by him, and the school 
was and still is designated as the Leibnitz- Wolffian. 
This philosophy became more and more prevalent and 
opened the way for the theological Rationalism, which 
was afterwards more fully developed by Kant and his 
school. 

The earlier followers of Wolff remained faithful to 
the doctrine of the Church. Joh. Gust. Reinbeck (1682— 
1741) prefixed to his reflections on the truths contained 
in the Augsburg Confession a preface on the use of 
reason and philosophy in theology. Sigmund Jacob Baum- 
garten (1706 — 1757), professor of theology at Halle 
after 1730, exerted a wide influence as a teacher. By 
adopting the formal scheme of the philosophy of Wolff, 
and applying it to the theological ideas of Pietism, he 
formed the transition from the pietism of Spener and 
Francketo the modern rationalism. But it was especial- 
ly Johann Gottl. T6llner(d. 1774) who first opened the way 
for the introduction of Rationalism into dogmatic the- 



230 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

ology. He taught "that God leads man to happiness 
already by natural revelation," and that the revelation 
of Scripture is only a more certain and perfect means 
thereto. He also found no trace of inspiration in the 
Bible, since the sacred authors thought and wrote with- 
out any special divine aid. 

5. The History of Dogmatics outside of Germany. 

This is the best place to present a brief outline of 
the history of theology outside of Germany, during 
the eighteenth century. On the whole, nearly all the 
Protestant countries took very little notice of the con- 
flicts going on there In England the principles of 
Arianism were taught by Samuel Clarke (d. 1729), and the 
Unitarian controversy was continued by Joseph Priest- 
ley (d. 1804, having come to the United States in 1794), 
whose great opponent, Samuel Horsley (d. 1806), was 
more than a match for him, "his spear having pierced 
the Socinian's shield," as Gibbon expresses it. 

Among the more prominent dogmatic writers of the 

Church of England we may mention Daniel Waterland 1 

(d. 1740), Thomas Stackhouse 2 (d. 1752), Thomas Seeker 

(d. 1768), Augustus Montague Toplady (d. 1778), William 

Warburton* (d. 1779), Jones of Nayland (d. 1800), and 

George Tomline^ (d. 1827). Among the Baptists John 

Gill 6 (d. 1771) takes the highest rank. 

i The bold defender of the Church Doctrine against the Arians 
and Socinians of his time. See p. 215. 

2 His "Complete Body of Divinity" (1729) reached a third edition 
in 1755. 

3 His famous work "The Divine Legation of Moses" was written 
against the Deists. 

4 His "Elements of Christian Theology" (2 vols. London 1799; 
14th ed. 1843), is one of the standard' works of theology in the 
Church of England. 

5 In his "Body of Divinity" (2 vols. 1769; new ed. London, 
1839), he takes a strong Calvinistic ground, but is violently opposed 
to Infant Baptism. 



THE DOGMATICS OF BATIONALISM AND SUPRAXATUEALISM. 231 

Of the three new sects 1 that originated in the eight- 
eenth century, by far the most powerful and influential 
took its rise in England. John Wesley (d. 1791 and John 
William Fletcher (d. 1785) laid the foundation of Wesley- 
an Arminianism, while George Whitefield (d. 1770) be- 
came the father of the Welsh or Calvinistic branch of 
Methodism. 

Of the theologians of the eighteenth century no 
one was superior to Jonathan Edwards (d. 1758), the 
most distinguished divine of America, who was the 
great defender of Calvinism against all theobjections 
raised by Arminianism, and the founder of the so-called 
"New England Theology." 

§ 20. The Dogmatics of Rationalism and Supranaturalism. 

This was a period in which there seemed to be 
a life struggle between the revealed testimony of 
God and the self-asserting Rationalism of man. 
In it the defense of truth was impaired by the 
unconscious demoralization of the spirit of the 
times in the very men who attempted to repre- 
sent and defend the truth. 

7. The Illumination falsely so-called. 2 

1) In England. 

Deism flourished in England during the seventeenth 
and eighteenth centuries, and was an indirect product 
of the tendencies at work within the Church of England. 

i Methodism founded by John Wesley, the Unitas Fratrum or 
Moravians, resuscitated by Count Zinzendorf (d. at Herrnhut, 1760), 
aod the New Jerusalem Church founded by Emanuel Swedenborg 
(d. 1772). 

2 Compare Lechler: Geschichte des engl Deismus. Stuttgart, 1841; 
Farrar: * Critical History of Free Thought. New York, 1881; Hurst: His- 
tory of Rationalism. Ninth revised edition. New York. Cairns: Unbe- 
lief in the Eighteenth Century. Edinburgh, 1881 . 



232 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

Deism has been defined as the exaltation of Natural 
Keligion, so as to make it the normal rule of all positive 
religion. 

Eminent in this school was Lord Herbert of Cherbury 
(d. 1648), who was free from the usual levity of the 
Deists and attempted with serious earnestness, and as 
he thought for the glory of God, in his two principal 
works, De l/eritate ( 1624) an d De religione Genti/ium (1645), 
to show that natural religion is the heart of all religions 
and sufficient for salvation without Eevelation. 

The tendency of Herbert was developed with con- 
siderable ability and with marked effect by a number of 
Deistical writers, among whom were Anthony Collins 
(1729), Matthew Tindal (d. 1733), called the "Great 
Apostle of Deism," whose chief work "Christianity as Old 
as the Creation" (1730), maybe called the Deist's Primer, 
Lord Bolingbroke (d. 1751), David Hume (d. 1776), and 
others of the same school. 

The general position of this school was that the 
Bible was full of absurdities and of statements and 
principles conflicting with morality, — that the tradi- 
tional Christianity of the Church was for the most part 
a work either of weak or hypocritical men. 

2) In France. 

In France Jean Jacques Rousseau (d. 1778) appeared, 
writing in a charming style, demanding a return to 
nature in all the relations of life. His works present the 
dream of a poet. The Christianity he acknowledges is 
mere natural religion, and this kind of Christianity he 
defends with great ardor in his "Profession de Foi du Vi- 
caire Savoyard," in "Emile." 

Voltaire (d. 1778) has not the refinement of feeling 
nor the delicacy of style which characterize Rousseau. 
He shows a personal hatred to Christ, and with his 
poisonous satire attempts to render ridiculous the Holy 



THE DOGMATICS OF RATIONALISM AND SUPRANATURALISM. 233 

Scriptures. These two great writers and their imitators 
controlled educated France. What they still left of the 
general religious ideas of men, belief in God, recognition 
of a realm of truth and virtue, was thrown to the winds 
by the Materialism which followed them. These older 
infidels became by comparison almost relatively or- 
thodox. The leaders of the coarser infidelity were Diderot 
(d. 1784), D'Alembert (d. 1783), Helvetius (d. 1771), and 
others 

3) In Germany. 

The witty frivolity of the French found a lodgment 
in the court of Frederick II of Germany (King of Prussia 
from 1740 — 86), and through the influence of the court 
more and more exercised a baneful influence upon the 
people. The watchword of the time, in all spheres of 
thought, was the word "Illumination," and the centre 
or focus of this light was Berlin. 

4) The development in Theology. 

While this movement was taking place in the out- 
side world, a development in theology correspondent 
with it, took place. Among the perverters of truth two 
names are conspicuous, first, the frivolous Bahrdt, and 
the other, the more earnest but no less negative Reim- 
arus. 

Bahrdt (d. 1792) was a man of no ordinary talent, 
and full of activity. He wrote about 126 books, but a 
mere trifler in science, a man lewd in life, passing over 
first from Crusius to Ernesti, seeking to do away with 
the doctrines of the Church, under pretense of develop- 
ing a Biblical system {"Dogmatics," 1768). Subsequent- 
ly, advancing still further he tried to shoAv that Script, 
ure itself can be of no use in the establishment of right 
faith (" Newest Revelations," 1772), and finally went over 
completely on the side of those who acknowledge noth- 
ing but Natural Religion ("Moral Religion " 1787). He 



234 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

made morality the basis of all religion, and offered him- 
self, the most immoral of men, as teacher of Morals to 
mankind. 

Reimarus (d. 1768) first appeared as a defender of 
the doctrine of the existence and attributes of God, 
from the wise constitution of nature. An assailant of 
Atheism and Spinozism, he subsequently introduced 
English Deism into Germany by means of a work pub- 
lished after his death by Lessing, — the famous " Wolf en - 
butte/ Fragments" (1774—78), which claim to be an apol- 
ogy for the rationalistic worship of God. In this work 
Reimarus attempted to show the irrationality and im- 
morality of a large portion of Scripture and of Biblical 
characters, and the contradiction especially in the 
narratives of the Evangelists. 

These attacks upon revealed Religion were met in- 
deed and answered, nevertheless the thought which lay 
at the bottom of this movement,— the reduction of re- 
vealed religion to the standard of nature,— constantly 
gained ground. This was partly due to the influence of 
the so-called popular philosophy, into which the philosophy 
of Wolff had run out, a philosophy in which the lighter 
tone of conversation had taken the place of that of the 
heavy mathematical demonstration. Mendelssohn (d. 
1786) and others represented this philosophy. 

Over against this intellectual tendency, the feeble 
supporters of the position of the older Church knew no 
better way than to make concessions. These professed 
defenders of orthodoxy talked much of the bonds which 
held together reason and faith, and the result was that 
illogical mixed theology, which was neither rationalistic 
nor orthodox, — too rationalistic to be orthodox, too 
orthodox to be rationalistic, and was thus at once 
neither and both. Lessing (d. 1781) hated it so thorough- 



THE DOGMATICS OF RATIONALISM AND STIPRANATURALISM, 235 

ly tha,t he declared that the old orthodoxy would be far 
more acceptable than this mongrel system. 

Among the representatives of this enfeebling of the 
Church doctrine may be mentioned Seiler (d. 1807), D6~ 
derlein (d. 1789), Morus (d. 1792;, Gruner (d. 1778) and 
Teller (d. 1804). 

This whole effort to render the Christian doctrine 
more rational, obtained a fixed principle through the 
labors of Kant. 

2. Kant. 

Among the greatest names in modern philosophy is 
that of Immanuel Kant 1 (d. 1804). I [is influence has been 
felt in every department of thought, and for a time at 
least was a special power in the domain of theology. He 
reasoned out from a critique of the faculty of cognition, 
and deduced from it the conceptions of space and time, 
the categories of the understanding, the ideas of reason, 
which he maintained are purely subjective and afforded 
no objective certainty. He maintained that we cannot 
demonstrate the existence of God, — that the ordinary 
proofs of it are untenable. Pure reason can make no 
affirmation in regard to (rod. These views he maintained 
in his "Critique of Pure Reason" (1781). 

On the other hand, according to him, God is a pos- 
tulate of the Practical Reason. Man, as a theorizer can 
reach no conception of God, but man as a being of 
moral activity is driven to a recognition of a Supreme 
Being. Conscience demands unconditional recognition 
of the moral law of God. But with the world of virtue, 
the world of impulse, desire and passion, is in conflict, 
and yet is equally essential to it ; we cannot remove the 
dissonance of the two worlds by destroying either. This 

i The best single work for an introductory study of Kant's 
Philosophy is: The Philosophy of Kant as contained in extracts from 
his own writings. Selected and translated by John Watson , 1891. 



23G INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

conflict demands a harmonizing, which will be brought 
about by God, after death. The essential substance of 
religion he upholds to be 1) God, 2) virtue, 3) immor- 
tality. These principles he develops in his work, "Re- 
ligion within the bounds of Mere Reason" (1793). In accord- 
ance with these principles we are to form our judgment 
of every form of religion and by them are to vindicate 
the pre-eminence of Christianity. 

In these views Kant gave expression to the domi- 
nant tendency of his time, and although his views were 
of a decidedly Pelagian character, they yet gave rise to 
a relatively greater moral earnestness. 
3. Vulgar Rationalism. 

The vulgar Rationalism was the product of these two 
elements, the illumination on the one side, the Kantian 
philosophy on the other, meeting and fusing in the 
sphere of theology. Its essence has been defined to be 
the union of the deistic religion of Reason, with posi- 
tive Protestantism. It proposed to reform Christianity 
in accordance with the wants of the time and the de- 
mand of what was then passing for reason. It was not 
so much a set of doctrines or even of negations, as a 
method of interpretation ; it fixed the reason of men as 
the absolute standard, adjusted revelation by it and 
forced the text to accord with what it assumed to be 
true. 

In the Rationalism of the Eighteenth Century all the 
faith was submitted to the dominant culture of the 
times. The spurious illumination of the age determined 
the position of Scripture, of the doctrine of the Church, 
and of revelation in general. On the question of the 
necessity of revelation, in the strict sense of the word, 
Rationalism really made the same decision as Deism, 
that is, it. denied revelation in the strict sense, and the 
revelation it seemed to grant and to patronize was a 



THE DOGMATICS OF RATIONALISM AND SUPRANATURALISM. 237 

figment of its own, at least the result of a mere ordinary 
providence, with nothing supernatural iu it. 

The Dogmaticians of this tendency appeared with 
more or less closeness to Kant. Among these we may 
mention Tief trunk (professor of philosophy at Halle, d, 
1837), Henke (professor of theology at Helrosta,dt,1780 
—1809), Staudlin (professor of theology at Gottingen, 
1790—1826), Rohr (court preacher at Weimar, 1820— 
1848), and Wegscheider (professor of theology at Halle, 
1810—1849). 

Wegscheider was the chief dogmatician of Rational- 
ism 1 . His views are in brief these: Christ is a man, 
who obtained for himself the just claims to the title of 
the Son of God. His death is a symbol of the fact that 
sacrifices are abrogated, but is not to be abused as a 
plaster for the conscience of bad and morally corrupt 
men. God is no blood-thirsty Moloch, and all the sin- 
ner needs is the reformation of his life. The resurrec- 
tion of Christ is the resuscitation from seeming death, 
a distinguished proof of the existence of divine provi- 
dence. The ascension of Christ is a tradition, like that 
of Romulus and others. The righteousness before God 
is obtained not by outward works, but neither is it ob- 
tained by mere faith, but through the gracious state of 
feeling which pleases God. This is possible, for original 
sin is a gloomy figment. The operation of the Word is 
a natural one. There is no such thing as a supernatural 
operation of Spirit in man. Reformation is a work of 
personal activity, the Sacraments are mere symbols. 
Baptism is a rite of consecration and initiation, and the 
Lord's Supper is a memorial meal. The doctrine con. 
cerning "the Last Things" reduces itself to faith in a 
future state of rewards. 

This, says Luthardt, is the Dogmatics of Rational- 

i See his Instit. theol. Christ, dog., 1815. 8th edition, 1844. 



238 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

ism. Others attempted to approximate somewhat more 
closely the doctrine of the Church, without however, 
abandoning the rationalistic basis. Such were Ammon 
(1766—1850), Bretschneider (1776—1848), and Tzschir- 
ner (professor of theology at Leipsic, d. 1828). But 
whatever may be the relative moderation of this School, 
the point of view is substantially the same as the other. 
The distinctions are only those of degree. 

Karl Hase, in his "Theologische Streitschriften" 
(1834—37), has left to the vulgar rationalism nothing 
whatever to stand on, and there is not at this hour, in 
Germany, a solitary theologian of commanding posi- 
tion who adheres to the old Vulgar Eationalism. That 
which swept over Germany like a flood has passed away, 
and left nothing but memorials of the death which it 
brought with it. 

4. Supranaturalism. 

Supranaturalism maintains the necessity and actual- 
ity of positive revelation, and acknowledges the revela- 
tion furnished in Scripture as the norm of religious 
truth. Often, however, it has been a little more than 
a certain compromise between Reason and Revelation. 
The Scripture indeed was to decide, but Reason never- 
theless determined in various ways what is essential in 
Scripture, so that the dogmatic result was not as com- 
pletely distinct from that of Rationalism, as the uncon. 
ditional recognition of the supremacy of God's Word 
would have made it. This was the middle tendency of 
the so-called Supranaturalistic Rationalism and Ra- 
tionalistic Supranaturalism, which may be likened to 
chemical compounds which have the same parts in the 
same proportion, with diversity of arrangement. 

Franz Volkmar Rein hard (d. 1812) exercised the great- 



THE DOGMATICS OF RATIONALISM AND SUPRANATURALISM. 239 

est influence as a preacher, and in his sermons 1 he main- 
tained that we must either hold entirely to Reason or 
entirely to Scripture, and that it is impossible to co- 
ordinate them, for to be logical we are compelled to 
subordinate the one to the other. Yet even in the case of 
Reinhard, the relation to revelation and to the doctrine 
of Scripture was too external, and his understanding of 
the Church Doctrine was very defective. 

George Christ/an Knapp (d. 1825), professor of theology 
at Halle (1777), and director of the Fran eke Institu- 
tion (1785), occupies the same general position as 
Reinhard, but with a closer approximation to the doc- 
trines of the Church. His chief work," Lectures on Christian 
Theology'"* was translated into English by Leonard 
Woods, and has been widely used. 

August Hahn (d. 1863) was one of the last represent- 
atives of the old Supranaturalism, but in the second 
edition of his Lehrbuch des Christ lichen Glaubens" (1857), 
the influence of the positive Church renewal of theology 
shows itself. 

As Reinhard represented Supranaturalism in the 
north, Gottlob Christian Storr (d. 1805), professor of theol- 
ogy at Tubingen after 1777, represented it in the south 
of Germany. His chief work, "Doctrinoe christiance pars 
theoretica" 3 shows pre-eminently the biblical tendency of 
the Wurtemberg or Old Tubingen School, and is still 
valuable as a book of reference. 

Johann Friedrich Flatt (d. 1812) and Friedrich Gottlieb 

i His collected sermons comprise 35 volumes. His Confessions, 
translated into English, in which he presents the history of his own 
development as a preacher, is of value. 

2 2 vols. Andover, 1831—33. 

s Appeared in 1793, was translated into German, with extensive 
explanations and additions by Piatt, in 1803, and this last was trans- 
lated by S. S. Schmucker of Gettysburg, under the title, "Biblical 
Theologv of Storr and Flatt" (2 vols. Andover, 1826. Reprinted in 
England", 1845). 



240 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

Sueskind (d. 1829), the immediate followers of Storr, and 
able representatives of the Old Tubingen School, sought 
by emphasizing the Bible as the only source of the 
knowledge of the faith, to establish and vindicate the 
doctrine of the Church, by a moderate biblical inter- 
pretation. 

This tendency was represented in polemic antithesis 
toward the philosophical perversion of the Christian 
faith by Steudel (d. 1837), professor of theology at Tu- 
bingen after 1815. In his "Lehrbegriff der evang. protest. 
Kirche" (1834), he has throughout reference to Schleier- 
macher and Hegel, against whose views he directs his 
polemic. 

Johann Tobias Beck (d. 1878), professor of theology 
at Tubingen after 1843, returned decisively and com- 
pletely to the standpoint of the Old Tubingen School, 
and is the ablest modern representative of the Wurtem- 
berg or Pietistic School of Bengel, Oetinger and Boos. 
His views are presented in his two works, "Einleitung in 
das System der christ. Lehre" (1838, 2nd ed., 1870), "Die 
christ. Lehrwissenschaft" (1 Th. die Logik der christ. Lehre, 
1841, 2nd ed., 1875). His thought and style are heavy 
and dull, but his matter is of great intrinsic value. He 
contends that theology shall be completely separated 
from all the philosophy and the culture of the time, and 
this he would accomplish by binding and establishing it 
upon the Scriptures, but he does this in a way, which 
shows that he has a wrong conception with regard to 
the operation of the Holy Spirit in the Church, of the 
witnesses of the Church, and of the history of the Church, 
and he has so completely ignored the dogmatic labors 
of others as to have had comparatively limited influence 
upon the development of theology. 

On the whole, Supranaturalism, though opposed to 
Rationalism and contending for much peculiar to the 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE MOST RECENT TIME. 241 

old faith of the Church, shared also in the infection of 
the time and abandoned much. It did not build up so 
well as it fought. And Pietism iu its noblest form is 
never well fitted to take up arms in defence of Kevela- 
tion,— on the contrary, in its farther development it 
generally shows a tendency towards rationalism. It 
takes a much greater interest in life than in doctrine, 
and is indeed adverse to the scholastic form in which 
the orthodox system is presented ; it is lukewarm to the 
idea of pure doctrine for purity's own sake, and on ac- 
count of this indifferentism to the extension of truth 
for truth's own sake, pietism may come to consider 
Scripture simply a practical means to a practical end, 
and not keep the source of all truth ever flowing. It is 
unionistic in its tendency, and is so firmly determined 
to make religion, first and foremost, a practical issue, 
that it sometimes shrinks into a narrow brotherhood 
of the faithful, with no interest for the Church Univer- 
sal. In fact, even at its best estate, Pietism has always 
lacked certain elements of the highest form of Lutheran 
Christianity, and is simply a pure Christianity in a 
feeble, feverish state of health, Jacking force, freshness, 
largeness, and positiveness of doctrine, and is never 
able to cope with error and rationalism, with any hope 
of success. 

§ 21. The Dogmatics of the most Recent Time. 

The Dogmatics of the most recent times is 
marked by depth and geniality and by the 
struggle between the mediating and the strictly 
logical and churchly tendencies. 

/ . The Renewal of Religious Faith. 
The renewal of the religious faith and life, as it was 
called forth by the earnestness of the time, in the first 



242 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

decennial of our century, in Germany, had at first a 
merely general Christian character. Gradually, how- 
ever, under the influence of the historic feeling which is 
strongly characteristic of our era, and which has made 
itself felt in every department of scientific life, it went 
back to the life of faith in the past, in order to connect 
itself in unity with it. There were two paths on which 
the return was made to positive theology and to the 
doctrine of the Church: 1) that of philosophical think- 
ing, and 2) that of emotion. . 

2. The Philosophy of this Period. 

Philosophy had advanced from the criticism of Kant 
(d. 1804) to the Idealism of Fichte (d. 1814). The unity 
which had been sought analytically by Kant was still 
pursued by Fichte, and was found by him in the Ego, 
over against which he placed the Cosmos or external 
world as the Non-Ego, and which in its absoluteness is 
connected with the moral advance of mankind. This 
moral advance on which he dwelt in his system, the 
moral order of the Cosmos, was Fichte's God. On this 
account he was accused of Atheism, and deposed from 
his position as professor of philosophy at Jena (1799). 
In his later speculations he was inclined more to a 
mystical Pantheism. 

Another of the great names in Philosophy, of this 
era, is that of Schelling (d. 1854). It is usual to divide 
his intellectual life into three periods. His earlier phil- 
osophy is but a philosophic expression of that yearning 
to comprehend the absolute as it appears above all in 
Goethe's Faust, and his system is the highest glorifica- 
tion of genius as celebrated by the romantic school. By 
speculative knowledge alone, Schelling expects a re- 
generation of esoteric Christianity and the proclama- 
tion of the absolute Gospel. The doctrine of the Trinity, 
of the Incarnation, and similar doctrines, are regarded 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE MOST RECENT TIME. 243 

as symbolic expressions of the relation of the infinite 
and the finite. His second period is characterized by his 
inclination to theosophic speculation and the influence 
of Christian mysticism, especially of Jacob Bohme. In 
his later period we have one of the greatest endeavors 
of modern philosophy to construct the system of Chris- 
tian doctrine. He distinguishes three ages of Church 
History, and names them after the characters and names 
of the three Apostles: 1) The Petri ne Period, or Cathol- 
icism; 2) The Pauline Period, or Protestantism ; 3) The 
Johannean Period, or the "Church of the future." 1 

Closely allied to Schelling we have the speculations 
of Franz von Baader (d. 1841), who has been called "the 
greatest speculative theologian of modern Catholicism," 
and who found many followers, especially in South 
Germany. 

While Schelling was laboring in quietude, Hegel (d. 
1831) took the philosophical chair of the era and read 
to the world a "collegium logicum" in grand style. 
His philosophy swept away all other philosophies as if 
they were mere dust, and before he died it began to 
make itself felt as an actual power both in State and 
Church. 

The adherents of the School of Hegel, after their 
master's death, divided into two parts, of which one 
called the "right wing" (Erdmann, Rosenkranz), was 
on the side of Christianity, and the other, or "left 
wing" (Feuerbach, Bruno Bauer), took ground against 
Christianity. 

The course of philosophy reflected itself in theology. 
With no theologian of this era was this more the case 
than with Karl Daub (d. 1836), who has been called "the 
founder of Protestant speculative theology." The rapid 
development of the German philosophy in his age com- 

iSee Heyder in Herzog. 



244 INTKODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

pelled him to change his views repeatedly. Originally 
writing as a Kantist (1801), he has left for Fichte in 
1805, and by 1806 has already reached Schelling. For 
several years he is under the influence of Schelling and 
of his mystical ideas (1810), but by 1816 it is evident 
that he is steering towards Hegel, and in the Hegelian 
philosophy he finally anchors, which he applies to theol- 
ogy (in his Dogmatische Theologie jetziger Zeit," 1833). 

A similar experience is that of Philipp Konrad Mar- 
heineke (d. 1846), professor of theology at Berlin, after 
1811. His "Dogmatik," in the edition of 1819, took the 
position of Schelling, the second edition of 1827, that of 
Hegel, and the same position is occupied by the edition 
published in 1847, by two of his pupils, Matthies and 
Vatke, which last is much clearer than his earlier work. 
Marheineke came to be recognized as the leader of the 
"right wing" of the Hegelian School, which affirmed 
that Hegelianism can be reconciled with poisitive 
Christianity. 

The Hegelian philosophy imagined that it had re- 
stored peace between the doctrine of the Church and 
Philosophy. But the deep cleft which actually separates 
them was uncovered by David F. Strauss (d. 1874), who 
brought together the negative elements of Hegelianism, 
in order to show the invincible conflict between the 
modern consciousness, that view of the world which 
rested upon the theory of Immanence, on the one side, 
and the doctrine of the Church, on the other/ The 
theory of a God lost in the world, which is that of Im- 
manence, cannot be harmonized with the true view of 
the Church, of an extra mundane and personal Deity. 
With the materials of Hegelianism, Strauss endeavored 
to annihilate the Church doctrine, in which he calls his 
"Christliche G/aubensIehre," 1 which has been characterized 

i Two volumes, Tuebingen, 1840, 41. 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE MOST EECENT TIME. 245 

as resembling atheology in the same way that a cemetery 
resembles a city. In this book he tries to demonstrate 
that the history of Christian doctrine is the history of 
its dissolution, and that theology can have no other 
future than that of transition into philosophy. 

Deeply influenced by Strauss, and a disciple of Hegel, 
Alois Emanuel Biedermann (d. 1885), professor of theology 
at Zurich, after 1850, and a leading rationalist, in his 
''Christliche Dogmaiik" 2 denies the historical character of 
the Gospels, the personality of God, a personal im- 
mortality to man, and yet holds that love to God and 
man constitutes the essence of religion. 

3. The Theology of Emotion. 

During these movements in the theological world, 
the emotional theolog3 r had already won for itself an 
independent sphere. This it did by recognizing religion 
as a thing not of cognition and knowledge, but of in- 
ternal life, and showed its place in the immediate con- 
sciousness, or emotion. Lessing (d. 1781) had already 
appealed to the internal assurance of the believer as 
something which could not be shaken by the assaults 
upon Scripture. 

Jacob/' (d. 1819) has represented the right of imme- 
diate emotion in the assurance of the supersensuous, 
and thus had won a foothold for a mystical Christian- 
ity. Jacobi believed, indeed, that there was an irrecon- 
cilable conflict between thinking and feeling, between 
the head and the heart, and declared that he himself 
was a Christian with his heart, a heathen with his head. 

Attaching himself to Jacobi, and employing at the 
same time Kant's method of analysis, Fries (d. 1843) 
pointed out in reason the immediate organ of the di- 
vine, whose internal revelation was only vivified or 
quickened by all further revelation. 

2 Second edition, 2 vols. Berlin, 1884, 85. 



246 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

The influence of this philosophy is shown bj T De 
Wette (d. 1849). In his work "Ueber Religion und Theo- 
logie," 1 he develops the fundamental aspects of his 
philosophy, to which he faithfully adhered through life. 
In his "Bibl. Dogmatik" (1813 and 1831 ) he presents the 
religious ideas of Scripture (Biblical Theology), and in 
his "Kirchl. Dogm." (1816 and 1840), he was more in 
affinity with the doctrine of the Lutheran Church, but 
his own system, which is more popular and positive, and 
at the same time showing more the influence of Schleier- 
macher, he presents in his "Wesen des Glaubens" (1846). 

This tendency became an epoch-making power under 
the influence of Friedrich Sch/eiermacher 2 (d. 1834), pro- 
fessor of theology at Berlin, after 1810. In order to 
preserve theology from all false blending with philos- 
ophy, he endeavored to discover the proper sphere of 
religion in man. This he found in immediate conscious- 
ness, or in feeling, and the feeling in which he found it 
was that of absolute dependence. He therefore con- 
sidered that theology had nothing to do with specula- 
tion, any more than religion has to do with thinking, 
and he maintained that philosophy and theology should 
be kept apart, although his own theology is penetrated 
to the core by his philosophy. 

As a speculative theologian he ranks among the 
greatest of all ages. The effect of his early training and 
the type of Moravian Christianity can be clearly traced 
in his dogmatic writings. Though belonging to the 
Keformed Church, he labored for its union with the 
Lutheran Church, and this Syncretism developed into 
rationalism, w T hile his pietism developed into supranat- 

1 Berlin, 1815. New edition, 1821. 

2 Compare Jonas and Dilthev: Aus Schleiermacher's Leben, in Brie- 
fen. 4 vols. Berlin, 1858— 61. Translated in part into English: The 
Life of Schleiermacher. 2 vols. London, 1860; W. Gass: in Herzog ; Ue- 
berweg: History of Philosophy. Vol. 2, pp. 244—254. 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE MOST RECENT TIME. 247 

uralisin, and yet he cannot be classed with the rational- 
ists, nor with the supranaturalists, nor with the mystics, 
but combined in himself elements from all. 

His greatest work "Der chrisiliche Glaube" has been 
called "a monument of religious enthusiasm and phil- 
osophical reasoning which has no equal in the theolog- 
ical literature after Calvin's Insiitutiones." The touch- 
stone on which a do&'ma is to be tried is not the direct 
teaching of the Scriptures, nor the demonstration of 
proofs drawn from reason, but our feelings. He rejected 
the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity and of the Person 
of Christ, of the Devil and the fall of the angels, of in- 
spiration and the canon, and taught an ultimate resto- 
ration, — in fact, his errors are as numerous as those of 
Origen. "Yet he ever held fast to Christ as the greatest 
fact in history, as the one only sinless and perfect man 
in whom the Divinity dwelt in its fulness, and from 
whom saving influences emanate from generation to 
generation, and from race to race. In this central idea 
lies Schleiermacher's chief merit in theology, and his 
salutary influence. He modestly declined the honor of 
being the founder of a school; and his best pupils, as 
Neander, Twesten, Nitzsch, Liicke, Bleek, Ullmann, Ju- 
lius Muller, went far beyond him in the direction of a 
positive evangelical creed." 1 

The impulse which Schleiermacher gave to the relig- 
ious consciousness and also to the scientific method of 
Dogmatics, will continue to operate, at least in Ger- 
many, for a long time. Two distinguished theologians 
have attached themselves most closely to Schleier- 
macher. The first of these was K. Immanuel Nitzsch (d. 
1868), professor of theology at Bonn (1822—47), and 
at Berlin (1847 — 68), who was a theologian in the 
fullest sense of the word. In his "System of Christian 

t See Article in Schaff-Herzog. 



248 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

Doctrine" 1 he combines Dogmatics and Ethics and rests 
both upon the Scripture, as the restoration of religious 
consciousness, as it reveals itself in the Apostolic an- 
nouncement in its original form for all ages. He thus 
substituted for Schleiermacher's "Christian conscious- 
ness," the Word of God itself. 

The second theologian, August Christian Twesten (d. 
1876), professor of theology at Berlin, after 1834, was 
also a pupil of Schleiermacher. His lectures on Dogmat- 
ics 2 are very thorough but were never completed, and he 
forms a transition from the emotional theology to a 
stricter Lutheran orthodoxy. He delineates dogmatics 
as a justification of the doctrine of the Church, a doc- 
trine w T hich the dogmatician is to reproduce from his 
inner consciousness of faith. 

4. The Dogmatics of the Mediating Theology. 

This theology attempts to harmonize the opposi- 
tion of the rationalistic and the positive, of the phil- 
osophical and emotional tendency. This it does in com- 
binations of divers kinds, and hence is represented by a 
series of theologians w T ho approximate on the one side 
to Rationalism, and on the other to the doctrine of the 
Church. 

To the former school belongs Karl August Hase, since 
1830 professor of theology at Jena, who indeed gave 
the death-blow to vulgar rationalism, yet is the 
dogmatic representative of the rationalistic principle. 
Hase unites the historic feeling of the recent time with 
the speculative enthusiasm of modern philosophy and a 
tendency to the ideal. His "Evang. Dogmatic" 3 was 

i Published in 1829. Sixth edition, 1853. Fifth edition trans- 
lated into English. Edinburgh, 1849. 

2 Vorlesungen ueber die Dogm. der evang. luther. Kjrche. 2 vols. 
Hamburg. (Vol. 1. Introd. and Critical Part. 1826. 4th edition. 1838. 
Vol. 2. Theology and Angelology. 1838). 

3 Leipsic, 1826. Sixth edition, 1870. To be distinguished from 
his Hutterus Redivivus, oder Dogmatik der evang luth. Kirche. 1829. 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE MOST RECENT TIME. 249 

written for theologians, but his "Gnosis"^ was addressed 
to the educated laity. According to him religion is the 
attraction of Love to the Infinite, only approximately 
attained by other men, but reached and presented in 
the supremest degree in the man Jesus, thus making 
him the centre of a fellowship of all noble spirits who are 
striving after unity with the Infinite, /". e. with God. In 
its results his theology differs very little from that of 
Rationalism. 

Daniel Schenkel (d. 1885), professor of theology at 
Heidelberg, after 1851, at first almost orthodox, be- 
CdLmethe\eELder of the Protestantenverein. In his dogmatics, 
the peculiar character of which is expressed in its title, 
"Die christliche Dogmatik vom Standpunkte des Gewissens" (2 
vols. 1858—59), he clings closely to Schleiermacher. 

Alexander Schweizer, professor of theology at Zurich, 
since 1835, a pupil of Schleiermacher, in his "Glaubens- 
lehre der evangelischen reformirten Kirche" (2 vols. 1844 — 
47) combines Schleierinachers absolute feeliug of de- 
pendence with the Reformed doctrine of predestination. 
In his later works he stands entirely upon the ground of 
the so called "modern consciousness." 

Richard Rothe (d. 1867), professor of theology at 
Heidelberg after L839, with the exception of a short 
period (1849—54), during which he lectured at Bonn, 
presents his entire speculative theological system in his 
"Theologische Ethik" 2 which has been called "the greatest 
work of German speculative theology next to Schleier- 
macher's Der Christliche Glaube." He is characterized by 
a union peculiar to himself of the religious consciousness 

Twelfth edition. 1883. In this last work he attempts to present the 
doctrine of the Lutheran Church as Hutter would have represented it, 
if living. 

i Three vols. 1827—29. Third edition, 1893, 

2 3 vols. 1845 — 48. Second edition, thoroughly revised, in 5 vols. 
1867-72. 



250 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

of Schleiermacher, and of the speculations and method 
of Hegel. These he combines so as to present a complete 
theosophic view of the whole. Next in importance to 
his Ethik is his Zur Dogmatik, 1863, and his lectures on 
Dogmatik, imperfectly edited from his manuscripts by 
Schenkel (2 vols. Heidelberg, 1870). 

Johann Peter Lange (d. 1884), professor of theology 
at Bonn after 1854. one of the most original and fertile 
theological authors of the Keformed Church of this 
century, has attempted to place dogmatics in connec- 
tion with the entire life of the spirit and to harmonize 
with each other the manifold oppositions of the super- 
natural and the natural life. This he has done in his 
brilliant work "Christliche Dogmatik" (Heidelberg), which 
he published in three parts (1. Philosophical Dogmatics, 
1849; 2. Positive Dogmatics, 1849; 3. Applied Dogmat- 
ics, 1852). His theology is biblical and evangelical, but 
he is best known as the editor of Lange's Commentary, 
and by his Life of Christ (6 vols.). 

Karl Theodor Albert Liebner (d. 1871), successively 
professor of theology at Ixoettingen, Kiel, and Leipsic, 
and court-preacher at Dresden (1855), attempted to 
enrich dogmatics with purely speculative elements, and 
to shape it into a Christology, in his work "Die christl. 
Dogmatik aus dem christologischen Princip dargestellt" , (1849). 
He maintains that Dogmatics must go forth from the 
idea of the God-man, as the synthesis, by means of the 
analysis of the actual unity of the divine and human 
given therein, and he thus unfolds what he calls "the 
system of all systems," "a faithful scientific photograph 
of the full unabridged Christianity, as our fathers 
held it." 

The ripest fruit of this whole development, with ref- 
erence at the same time to the most recent contribu- 
tions to dogmatics, is given by Isaac August Dorner (d. 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE MOST RECENT TIME. 251 

1884). professor of theolog}^ a t Kiel (1839), Koenigs- 
berg (1843), Bonn (1847), Goettingen (1853), and fi- 
nally at Berlin (1862), in his "System der Christlichen 
Glaubenslehre" 1 . As one of the profoundest and most 
learned theologians of this century he ranks with 
Sehleiermacher, Neander, Nitszch, Julius Mueller, and 
Richard Rothe. With a positive faith and an historical 
spirit he sought to unite the theology of Sehleiermacher 
and the philosophy of Hegel. His theology is pre- 
eminently christ ological. 

Johannes Heinrich Ebrard (born 1818), in his "Christ- 
liche Dogmatik," 2 presented without philosophical specula- 
tion, in essentials retaining the Church orthodoxy, the 
Reformed Dogmatics as. an expression of the Christian 
consciousness of salvation, but he excludes the doctrine 
of absolute Predestination. 

Robert Benjamin Kuebel, professor of theology at 

Tuebingen, since 1879, in his "Ghristliche Lehrsystem" 

1873), represents the biblical school of Wuertemberg. 

Ludwig Fried rich Schoeberlein (d. 1881), professor of 
theology at Goettingen after 1855, in his "Grundlehren 
des Heils" (1848), "Die Geheimnisse des G/aubens" (1872), 
and in his last work "Das Prinzip und System der Dogmatik" 
(1881), shows a strong mystical tendency. 

Heinrich Johann Matthias Voigt, since 1864, professor of 
theology at Koenigsberg, in his Fundamental Dogmatik 
(Gotha, 1874), has given us a careful and full discussion 
of the fundamental questions that arise in dogmatics. 
5. The Dogmatics of Modern Scientific Rationalism. 

Albrecht Ritschl (d. 1889), professor of theology at 
Goettingen, was a determined opponent of Protestant 
Scholasticism, and is the only recent theologian who has 

i 2 vols. Berlin, 1879—80. Second edition. 1886. Translated 
into English with the title "A System of Christian Doctrine." 4 vols. 
Edinburgh, 1880—82. 

2 2 vols. 1851. Second edition, 1862. 



252 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

founded a school of theology. His view of justification 
and atonement, of reconciliation and grace, of sin and 
law, are so peculiar, that he reconstructs the very scheme 
of redemption. His views are especially seen in his "Die 
chrisiliche Lehre von der Rechtfertigung und Versoehnung," 1 a 
work which has attracted much attention. He describes 
his theological standpoint as follows : "In the strictest 
recognition of the revelation of God through Christ ; 
most accurate use of the Holy Scripture as the founda- 
tion of the knowledge of the Christian religion ; view of 
Jesus Christ as the ground of knowledge for all parts of 
the theological system; in accord with the original 
documents of the Lutheran Keformation respecting 
those peculiarities which differentiate its type of doc- 
trine from that of the Middle Ages." 

Ritschl has a large following among the younger 
professors of theology. Kaftan (born 1848), Dorner's 
successor in Berlin, is under his influence, so is Herrmann 
(born 1846), professor of theology at Marburg, the 
theological faculty at Giessen hold to his views, and Her- 
mann Schultz (born 1836) of Goettingen and Lipsius of 
Jena defend the essential positions of his theology. 
Against him are arrayed such men as Frank of Er- 
langen, and Luthardt, Fricke and Bestmann, of Leipsic. 

Richard Adelbert Lipsius (born 1830), professor of 
theology at Jena, since 1870, is a follower of Kant in 
philosophy, and of Schleiermacher in theology. In his 
"Lehrbuch der evang. prof. Dogmatik," 2 and in his i4 Dogma- 
tische Reitraege" (1878), he seeks to build up a system of 
dogmatics founded upon the religious experience of the 
Christian communion and of the individual believer. In 
fact, he bases the evidence of all Christian and religious 
truth on experience. 

i 3 vols. 1870— 74. Third edition, 1888— 89. The first volume 
has been translated into English. 

2 Third edition, 1893. 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE MOST RECENT TIME. 253 

6. Confessional Dogmatics. 

a) Lutheran. 

The confessional dogmatics of the Lutheran Church 
shaped itself by the side of the theology of mediation, 
exhibiting more and more the tendency to return to that 
doctrine of the Church which is embodied in her great 
Confessions of the sixteenth century. This tendency 
shows itself in two classes of works: 1) in those which 
outline the confessional doctrines historically, and 
2) in those which are an independent reproduction of 
that doctrine. 

Some of the best books of the first class come from 
the hand of men who were too much under the influence 
of the perverted thinking of the age to embrace the doc- 
trine they so ably presented. 

Among the works of this class may be mentioned 
the "Hutterus Redivivus" ol Karl Hase (12th ed. 1883), which 
is a model of literary skill. By condensing the matter, 
and using abridgments of frequently recurring words, he 
has condensed into a narrow space a vast fund of in- 
formation. He gave to it the name of the old dogmati- 
cian Mutter, whose fidelity to the Confessions and whose 
ability as a theologian has preserved his memory in the 
Church, and his object was to present the System of 
Dogmatics, as Hutter might have been supposed to 
present it, were he actually (redivivus) restored to life. 

The well known work of Heinrich Schmid 1 differs from 
that of Hase, in that it is confined to the older Dogma- 
ticians, and from these its citations are much fuller. 

Under the second class of works on confessional dog- 
matics, in which the writers have given to us not the 
history of the dogmatic thinking of others, but their 

i Translated into English under the title of "The Doctrinal Theol- 
ogy of the Evangelical Lutheran Church " Second English Edition, 
revised according to the Sixth German. By Doctors Hav and Jacobs. 
Phil'a, 1889. 



254 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

own independent reproduction of Christian doctrine, we 
have contributions from some of the profoundest and 
most brilliant scholars of the age. 

The "Dogmatics" of Hans Lassen Martensen (d. 1884), 
the most eminent Danish theologian of this century, has 
been favorably received. Luthardt says of it "that it 
exhibits spirit and versatility, and is suggestive, rich in 
apologetic and speculative elements/' The work is 
indubitably profound, clear in the main and concise. 
But while we place it among the works of confessional 
dogmatics, it is far from being a guide, which can be 
followed implicitly. He professes to hold to the type of 
doctrine as confessed by the Symbolical Books of the 
Lutheran Church, especially to the Augsburg Confession, 
and aims at reproducing the doctrine of Scripture and 
the Church scientifically from the depths of a conscious- 
ness, which is regenerated and filled with the idea of the 
Christian truth, nevertheless his Lutheran theology has 
been greatly influenced by the philosophy of Hegel and 
the theosophic views of Franz Baader, and in various 
points departs from the confessional teaching of the 
Lutheran Church. 

The next great name among the Lutheran Confes- 
sional Dogmaticians in th.^tol Ernest Sartor/us (d. 1859), 
who in addition to various minor publications on dog- 
matics, has presented his system most fully in his trea- 
tise on "The Doctrine of Divine Love." 1 

Gottfried Thorn asius (d. 1875), professor of theology 
at Erlangen, after 1842, in his "Christ/' Person undWerk"* 
has made the Person of Christ the centre of his system, 
and on every page gives evidence of his thorough 
acquaintance with the history of doctrines. It is in this 

i Translated into English, from the last German edition. Edin- 
burgh, 1884. 

2 Third edition. 2 vols. Erlangen 1886—88. 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE MOST RECENT TIME. 255 

work that he presents the modern "Ken otic"' theory in 
its developed form, and claims that this view is the 
legitimate outcome of the fundamental principles on 
which the Lutheran doctrine of Christ's person is based. 

One of the safest and best guides among the larger 
systems of recent date is that of Friedrich Adolf Philippi 1 
(d. 1882), professor of theology at Dorpat. (1841) and 
at Rostock after 1852. He is the best modern represent- 
ative of Lutheran orthodoxy. 

Karl Friedrich August Kahnis, professor of theology at 
Leipsic (1850 — 86), oue of the ablest theologians of this 
century, in his "Luth. Dogm. histor. genet, dargeste/lt" 2 
abandons the doctrine of the supreme divinity of Christ, 
and gives up the true doctrine of the Sacramental Pres- 
ence, and by his looseness in regard to the doctrine of 
Inspiration, makes his claim to a place among the Con- 
fessional Dogmaticians more than doubtful. 

Of a strictly confessional type is the "Dogmatik" z of 
August Friedrich Christian Vilmar f </.l 868) . Asa compendium 
for students it takes the very highest rank. 

Not the least among the confessional dogmaticiana 
of the Lutheran Church is the name of Franz Hermann 
Reinhold Franks (d. 1893), professor of theology at Er- 
langen after 1858. In his later writings he is noted for 
his profound reasoning and for the stress he lays upon 
the subjective element in faith. 3 

i Kirchliche Glaubenslehre 9 vols. 1883. 

2 Second edition. 2 vols. Leipsic, 1874—75. 

3 In two vols. Guetersloh, 1874. 

4 His earlier work "Die Theologie der Concordienforrael," 4 vols. 
Erlangen, 1858 — 65, is the standard on that subject. 

5 His three well known works, System der Christ Gewissheit, Sytem 
der Christ Wahrheit, System der Christ. Sittlichkeit. each in two volumes, 
covering respectively the sciences of Apologetics, Dogmatics, and 
Ethics, have lately appeared in new editions, and all three are of the 
most profound and important works on theology produced in the 
last half of this century. His literary executors have published since 
his death, his Geschichte und Kritik der neueren Theologie, insbesondere 
der systematischen, seit Schleiermacher (1894). 



256 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

One of the latest of distinguished living theologians 
is Christoph Ernst Luthardt, since 1856 professor of theol- 
ogy at Leipsic, and renowned as a university lecturer 
and pulpit orator. His "Compendium der Dogmatik" had al- 
ready reached the ninth edition in 1893. 

The work is not strictly speaking the development 
of a system, but rather a compendious presentation of 
carefully selected material. It is by far the best manual 
of the Dogmatics of the Evangelical Lutheran Church 
we possess. It gives the most important recent litera- 
ture under each head, and because of its comprehensive- 
ness, brevity, and succintness, we have taken it as a 
basis of our own presentation, and would especially 
recommend it to students. 1 

Of the confessional dogmaticians of Sweden we would 
especially mention the name of Carl Olof Bjdrling,(d.l884t) 
Bishop of Westeras, after 1866. The second edition of his 
Christian Dogmatics according to the Confessions of the Lutheran 
Church (1866) adheres more closely to the teaching of 
the Confessions of our Church than his first edition. He 
closely follows Philippi in the arrangement of his Dog- 
matic system, and his method is to present first a sci- 
entific exposition of each doctrine, then to explain the 
Biblical foundation, followed by a concise history of the 
doctrine from the time of the Early Church, concluding 
with the modern development of thedoctrine. In certain 
parts of his works he is somewhat speculative, but not 
to such a degree as to deserve the name of a speculative 
theologian. These speculative tendencies are most 
apparent in his discussion of the doctrine of Angels, of 
the Trinity, and of Eschatology. 

The Outlines of the Christian Doctrine of Faith, published 
by Dr. S. L. Bring of Lund, from 1869—1877, is strictly 

i For a complete synopsis of his system see pp. 137—143. 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE MOST RECENT TIME. 257 

confessional, and is noted for its warmth of presentation 
and "is spiritually edifying and refreshing in a very high 
degree.'' 3 

Axel F. Granfelt (d. 1892), professor at the University 
of Helsingfors, Finland, belonged to the mediating school 
of theology, and his Christian Dogmatics shows that he was 
largely influenced by Martensen and Von Hofmann,and 
by . the Keuoticism of Thomasius. But it is especially in 
the discussion of eschatological questions that he departs 
most widely from the teachings of the Lutheran Church. 

Strictly confessional is the work of Gisle Johnson of 
the University of Christiania, Norway. His Outlines of 
Systematic Theology is noted for its clearness, conciseness, 
and depth, and has been largely used as a text- bo ok. 

The well-known work of Krogh-Tonning, (3 vols. Chris- 
tiania, 1885 — 1889), also takes the highest rank, and 
although on some points he might be criticised, he never- 
theless can be regarded as confessional and as represent- 
ing the views of the Lutheran Church. His tendency, 
however, seems to be to minimize the difference between 
Lutheranism and Roman Catholicism. 

In the Lutheran Church in the United States there 
-are two theologians of the strict confessional tendency 
who have loft their dogmatic impress upon the Church. 

Charles Porterfield Krauth (d. 1883), professor of theol- 
ogy in the Lutheran Seminary at Philadelphia, after 
1864, has been the leader in the establishment of the 
General Council (1867), and has given shape to its strict 
confessional basis. 2 In his most important work, "The 
Conservative Reformation and its Theology" (Philadelphia, 
1871) he has given evidence of the strictest adherence 

i Compare an able article on Recent Dogmatic Thought in Scandinavia 
in "The Presbyterian and Reformed lleview," Oct. 1893, by Prof. C. 
E. Lindberg, D. D. 

2 See note 1, on pp 132, 134. 



258 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

to the doctrines of our Church as confessed in her Sym- 
bolical Books. 

Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm Walther (d. 1887), professor of 
theology at St. Louis, after 1849, the founder and leader 
of the Synod of Missouri (Synodical Conference), 1 is by 
pre-eminence the representative of Lutheran Orthodoxy^ 
a Calovius redivivus, equally zealous in controversy and 
positive in polemics. Although not the author of any 
system of dogmatics, he has written on almost all its 
topics, and has edited with great ability Baier's Com- 
pend, 2 in three volumes, a work which seems to have 
been his greatest favorite among the dogmaticians of 
the seventeenth century. 

b) Reformed (German). 

Heinrich Ludwig Julius Heppe (d. 1879), professor of 
theology at Marburg, after 1864, from the position of 
the German Reformed unionism in Germany, has given 
us several valuable works of a historical character. The 
principal are "Die Dogmatik des Protestantismus im 1 6 Jahr- 
hundert" (3 vols. Gotha, 1857), and "Die Dog. der evang. 
reformirten Kirche" (Elberfeld, 1860). This last is nearly 
identical io plan with the work of Heinrich Schmid, de- 
scribed above. 

The best representative of German Reformed Theol- 
ogy in the United States is found in the able work of 
Emanuel V. Gerhart, published under the title of "Institutes 
of the Christian Religion" (2 vols. 1891—94). 

c) Reformed (Dutch). 

The best representative of the theology of the Dutch 
Reformed Church is Jan Jakob van Oosterzee (d. 1882), 
professor of theology at Utrecht, after 1862, and the rec- 
ognized leader of the evangelical movement in Holland. 
His ''Christian Dogmatics" has been translated into En- 

i See note 1, p 132. 

2 St. Louis, 1879. 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE MOST RECENT TIME. 259 

glish from the Dutch (London and New York, 1874), 
and his American editors regard it, among the numer- 
ous foreign systems of Theology, "as beiug upon the 
whole the work best adapted to the wants of English 
and American students, and nearer, perhaps, to the 
prevailing type of Anglo-American Theology than any 
similar work produced of late years on the continent 
of Europe." This "prevailing type of Anglo-American 
Theology" here referred to, is of course, Reformed in its 
tendency, and not Lutheran. 

d) Church of England or Episcopalian. 

A standard work of the dogmatic theology of the 
Church of England is the well known "Exposition of the 
XXXIX Articles" (12th ed. 1882; Amer. ed.by Bishop Wil- 
liams of Connecticut, 1865) by Edward Harold Browne, 
Bishop of Winchester, from 1873—1890. The English 
Church has produced no great systematic theologian, in 
the true meaning of the term, though we have excellent 
handbooks and works on special topics by such writers 
as Buel, Blunt, Forbes, Goulburn, Liddon, Litton, Moule Horn's, 
Pusey, Sadler, Westcott, and Wilberforce. 

e) Congregational. 

Ralph Wardlaw (d. 1823), professor of theology at 
Glasgow, after 1811, was for a long time one of the 
prominent leaders of the Congregational churches in 
Scotland. His "System of Theology" (3 vols. 1856—57) 
was published after his death. 

In the history of Congregationalism in the United 
States, pre eminent among the theologians of this cen- 
tury, are the names of Samuel Hopkins (d. 1803), whose 
system had its root in the writings of the elder Jona- 
than Edwards (d. 1758), and was essentially Calvinistic, 
but distinguished as "Hopkinsiauism," Nathanael Em- 
mons (d. 1840) who developed the system of Hopkins 
into what is characterized as "Emmonism," Nathaniel 



260 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

William Taylor (d. 1858), the founder of "The New-Haven 
Theology," the elder Leonard Woods (d. 1854), "the judi- 
cious divine of the later New- England theology," and 
Charles G. Finney (d. at Oberlin, 1875). 

The best modern presentation of Congregational 
theology will be found in the works of Stearns and Fair- 
bairn. 

Lewis French Stearns, professor of Systematic Theol- 
ogy in the Theological Seminary at Bangor, Me., from 
1880 to 1892, in his Present Day Theology (New York, 
1893) endeavors the reconcile Calviuism and Arrninian- 
ism, and develops his system on the Christoceutric prin- 
ciple. Schaff: This is not a complete scientific work, but 
a fresh popular discussion of the leading doctrines of the 
Christian faith by a devout and thoughtful American, 
who had studied with Hodge in Princeton, with Smith 
in New York, with Dorner in Berlin, and with Kahnis 
and Luthardt in Leipsic, and who mediates between 
Presbyterian and Congregational Calvinism. 

f) Presbyterian. 

Among the dogmatic theologians of the Presbyterian 
Church we would especially mention the names of Charles 
Hodge, William G. T. Shedd, and Henry Boynton Smith. 

Charles Hodge (d. 1878), professor of theology at 
Princeton, New Jersej^, after 1822, achieved distinction 
in all departments of theology, and exerted the widest 
influence as a teacher, training more than a thousand 
ministers. His '^Systematic Theology" (3 vols. 1871—73) 
has been called "the greatest system of dogmatics in the 
English language." 

William G. T. Shedd, professor of Systematic Theology, 
in Union Theological Seminary (New York) from 1874 
—1890, in his Dogmatic Theology (3 vols. 1888—94), 
presents a strict type of Old School Calvinism, and 
makes no concession whatever to modern theology. 



THE DOGMATICS OF THE MOST RECENT TIME. 261 

Henry B. Smith, professor of Systematic Theology in 
Union Theological Seminary (New York) from 1853 to 
1874 in his System of Christian Theology (1884, 4th ed. 
1890), was the chief leader of the New School Presbyte- 
rian Theology, and marks the transition from Theocent- 
ric to Christocentric theology. 

g) Baptist. 

Augustus Hopkins Strong, professor of theology at 
Rochester, N. Y,, since 1872, in his "Systematic Theology 9 ' 
(1886, 4th ed. 1893), has given us a compendium and 
commonplace book for theological students. The work 
gives evidence of wide reading and a full mastery of the 
science of dogmatics. 

Of value from the Baptist standpoint are the works 
of Hovey, Pendleton, and Dagg. 

h) Methodist. 

Richard Watson (d. 1833, in London), in his "Theolog- 
ical I nstitutos" (2 vols. Eighth edition, 1850) systematized 
and expounded the theology of John Wesley (d. 1791), 
and adopts a modified Arminian interpretation of the 
Bible. This is the text-book of Methodism. 

William Burt Pope, professor of theology at Man- 
chester, England, since 1867, in his "Compendium of 
Christian Theology" (3 vols. 1875 — 76, revised edition 
1879—81), follows Watson's improved Arminianism. 

Miner Raymond, professor of theology at Evanston, 
111., since 1864, in his "Systematic Theology" (3 vols. 
1877—79), holds to more radical Arminianism. 

i) Roman Catholic. 

Giovanni Perrone (d. 1876), professor of theology 
after 1816, has exerted the widest influence in the Ro- 
man Catholic Church. His "Praefectiones theologicae" 
appears in two forms, unabridged (in 9 vols. 31st ed. 
1865), and abridged (2 vols. 36th ed. 1881), translated 
into various languages. It is most widely used by the 



262 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

students of the Roman Catholic Church, and comes up 
most fully to the standard of orthodoxy as set by the 
Church. 

Hugo Hurter, professor of theology at Innsbruck, 
since 1858, has also written a work on dogmatics which 
has reached a wide circulation. His "Theofogiae Dogma- 
ticae compendium" (3 vols. 1876), had already reached a 
fifth edition in 1885. 

Cardinal Wiseman's " Lectures on the Principal Doc- 
trines and Practices of the Catholic Church" (6th Amer. 
ed., Baltimore, 1862), and Cardinal Gibbons' "The Faith 
of our Fathers" (36th ed , Baltimore, 1890), present in 
a popular form the doctrines of the Roman Catholic 
Church. 

Select Literature of Dogmatics. 
/. Lutheran. 

a) TEXT-BOOKS AND SYSTEMS. 

1. Baier: Compendium Theol. Positive. Ed. by Walther. 3 vols. 
St. Louis, 1879. 

(Very valuableior those who read Latin and German. Price $8. « 0). 

2. Bjorliug: Den Christ. Dogmatiken. 2nded. 3 vols. Orebro, 1866. 

3. Bring: Christ. Troslaran. Lund, 1*77. 

(The last two works are staudard works in Swedish). 

4. Frank: System der christ. Gewissheit. 2nd ed. 2 vols. Erlangen, 
1881-84. 

5. Frank: System der christ. Wahrheit. 2nd ed. 2 vols. Erlangen, 
1885—86. 3rd ed., 1894. 

(These last two works by Frank are among the most profound 
works of theology produced in the last half century). 

6. Gerhard: Loci theol. 9 vols. Reprint. Berlin, 1863. 

7. Hase: Hutterus redivivus. 12th ed. Leip.^ic, 1883. 

8. Jacobs: Elements of Religion. Phil'a, 1894. 

9. Krauth: Conservative Reformation. Phil'a, 1871. 

10. Krogh-Tonning: Christ. Dog. Fundamental-laere. 3 vols. 1889. 

11. Luthardt: Kompendium der Dogmatik. 9th ed. Leipsic, 1893. 

12. Luthardt: Fundamental Truths. Edinburgh, 1869. 



SELECT LITERATURE OF DOGMATICS. 263 

13. Luthardt: Moral Truths. Edinburgh, 1873. 

14. Luthardt; Saving Truths. Edinburgh, 1868. 

15. Martensen: Christian Dogmatics. Edinburgh, 1866. 

16. Philippi: Kirch. Glaubenslehre. 3rd ed. 9 vols. 1883. 

17. Schmid: Doct. Theol. of the Lutheran Church. 2nd ed. Phil'a, 
1889. 

18. Thomasius: Christi Person und Werk. 3rd ed. 2 vols. 1888 

19. Vilniar: Dogmatik. 2 vols. Guetersloh, 1874. 

2. German Reformed. 

a) TEXT-BOOKS AND SYSTEMS. 

1. Calvin: Institutes of the Christian Religion. Many editions. 

2. Ebrard: Christ. Dogmatik. 2nd ed. 2 vols. 1863. 

3. Gerhart: Institutes of the Christian Religion. 2 vols. 1891— 94. 

4. Heppe: Dog. der evang. reform. Kirche. Elberield, 1861. 

5. Heppe: Dog. des Prot. im 16ten Jahrh 3 vols. Gotba, 1857. 

6. Lange: Christ. Dogmatik. 3 vols. 1870. 

7. Schweizer: Die Glaubenslehre der reform. Kirche. 2 vols. 1844 
—47. 

S. Van Oosterzee: Christian Dogmatics. 2 vols. 1874. 
(This last work represents Dutch Reformed Theology). 

3. Church of England (Episcopal). 

a) TEXT-BOOKS AND WORKS ON SPECIAL TOPICS. 

1. Adolphus: Compendium Theologicum. Cambridge, 1873. 

2. Browne: Exposition of the 39 Articles. New York, 1865. 

3. Buel: Systematic Theology. 2 vols. New York, 1889. 

4. Bull; Defence of the Nicene Creed. Transl. 2 vols. 1851. 

5. Forbes: Explan. of Nicene Creed. Loudon, 18«6. 

6. Forbes: Explan. of 39 Articles. Fifth ed. London. 

7. Goulburn: Everlasting Punishment. London, 1881. 

8. Hall: The Doctrine of God. Milwaukee. 1892. 

9. Hall: The Doctrine of Man and of the God Man. Milwaukee, 
1894. 

10. Hooker; Ecclesiastical Polity. Keble's edition. 3 vols. 1845. 

11. Jelf: The Thirty-nine Articles. London, 1873. 

12. Liddon: The Divinity of our Lord. London, 1876. 

13. Litton: Introduction to Dogmatic Theology. 2 vols. London, 
1882. 

14. Moule: Outlines of Christian Doctrine. London, 1892. 

15. Norris: Rudiments of Theology. New York, 1876. 



264 INTRODUCTION TO DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

16. Pearson: Exposition of the Creed. Chevallier's edition. 1859. 

17. Percival: A Digest- of Theology. Phil'a and London, 1893. 

18. Pusey: On the Catholic Faith. London, 1891. 

19. Randolph: Lectures on Systematic Theology. 3 vols. London, 
1869. 

20. Ridgeley: Body of Divinity. 2 vols. New York, 1855-. 

21. Sadler: The Second Adam, etc. (Baptism). London, 1892. 

22. Sadler: Emmanuel. London, 1879. 

23. Sadler: The One Offering. (The Eucharist). London, 1889. 

24. Sadler: Justification of Life. London, 1888. 

25. Sadler: Church Doctrine, etc. London, 1892. 

26. Tomline: Elements of Theology. 14th ed. 2 vols. 1843. 

27. Westcott: Christus Consummator. London, 1890. 

28. Wilberforce: The Doctrine of the Incarnation. London, 1892. 

29. Wilberfurce: The Doctrine of the Holy Eucharist. London, 1885. 

4. Congregational. 

1. Dale: The Atonement. 9th ed. 1883. 

2. Fairbairn: The Place of Christ in Modern Theology. N. Y., 1890. 

3. Fairchild: Elements of Theology. Oberlin, 1894. 

4. Finney: Lectures on Theology. Oberlin, 1878. 

5. Fisher: Discussions in History and Theology. N. Y., 1888. 

6. Harris: Philosophical Basis of Theism. N. Y., 1893. 

7. Harris: Self-Revelation of God. New York, 1892. 

8. Stearns: Present Day Theology. New York, 1893. 

9. Walker: Creeds and Platforms of Congregationalism. N. Y., 
1893. 

10. Wardlaw: System of Theology. 3 vols. 1859. 

4. Presbyterian. 

1. Beard: Lectures on Theology. 3 vols. Nashville, 1871. 

2. Bruce: The Humiliation of Christ. New York, 1892. 

3. Dabney: Theology, Dogmatic and Polemic. Richmond, 1885 

4. Hodge: Outlines of Theology. New York, 1882. 

5. Hodge, Charles: Systematic Theology. 2 vols. N. Y., 1873.. 

6. Shedd: Dogmatic Theology. 3 vols. N. Y., 1894. 

7. Smith: System of Christian Theology, N. Y., 1892. 

5. Baptist. 

1. Dagg: Manual of Theology. Charlestown, 1859. 

2. Hovey: Manual of Systematic Theology. Boston, 1877. 

3. Pendleton: Christian Doctrines. 13th ed. Phil'a, 1885. 

4. Strong: Systematic Theology. 4th ed. 1893. 



SELECT LITERATURE OF DOGMATICS. 265- 

6. Methodist. 

1. Field; Handbook of Christian Theology. New York, 1887. 

2. Miley: Systematic Theology. 2 vols. N. Y., 1894. 

3. Pope; Compendium of Christian Theology. 3 vols. N. Y., 1881, 

4. Pope: Higher Catechism of Theology. N. Y., 1881. 

5. Raymond: Systomatic Theology. 3 vols. 1879. 

6. Watson: Theological Institutes. 2 vols. 1850. 



EXAMINATION QUESTIONS. 



INTRODUCTION. 



§ 1. The Object of the Introduction. 1. What is 
discussed in the Introduction? 2. Who was the first 
writer to use Prolegomena? 3. What five topics 
does Schmid discuss in his Introduction? 4. What 
topics are discussed by Philippi? 5. By Marten- 
sen? 

I. DEFINITION OF DOGMATICS. 

§ 2. Definition of Theology. 6. Define Theology. 
7. In what five various senses has the word "theol- 
ogy" been used? 8. Why was the Apostle John 
called "the theologian"? 9. What is the common 
usage of the word? 10. Give some divisions of 
Theology. 11. Distinguish between archetypal 
and ectypal theology. 12. Between natural and 
revealed theology. 13. In what twofold way does 
Hollaz define theology? 14. Why can we not 
accept the definition that theology is the science of 
religion? 15. Why must a true theologian be a 
regenerated man? 16. What are the means of 
theological study? Explain. 17. Why does this 
science demand such profound study? 18. Name 
some of the most necessary requisites to the success- 
ful study of theology. 19. What is the final aim 



267 

of theology? 20. Of what fourfold aim does Hol- 
laz speak, and how do you explain his statements? 

§ 3. The Claims of Theoloay. 21. What four 
reasons can you give that theology may be re- 
garded as a positive science? 22. Prove that it 
is a Biblical science. 23. Show its scientific neces- 
sity. 24. What does Shedd say of the sceptical 
estimate of theology? 25. On what threefold 
ground does Strong maintain the possibility of 
theology? 26. Discuss the question of the relation 
of faith and knowledge. 27. What is Christlieb's 
testimony? 28. What has been the general rela- 
tion of Theology and Philosophy in the past? 29. 
What ought to be the true relation? 30. What 
does Calovius say on this point? 31. Quenstedt? 
32. What is Luthardt's final summary? 33. In 
w T hat sense is Theology progressive? 34. In what 
do the limitations of Theology lie? 

§ 4. Tbe Organism of Theology. 35. Name the 
four departments of theology. 36. Name all the 
sciences that belong to each of the four depart- 
ments. 37. Distinguish between Dogmatics and 
Ethics. 38. Why is it best to treat them sep- 
arately? 

§ 5. Name and Definition of Dogmatics. 39. Under 
what four headings is this topic discussed? 40. 
What various names have been given to this sci- 
ence? 41. In what different senses has the word 
"dogma" been used? 42. How does Martensen 
define a dogma? 43. How did our older Domati- 
<cia-ns regard the science of Dogmatics? 44. What 
does Baumgarten-Crusius say of the different modes 
of presenting Christian doctrine? 45. To what 
peculiar opinion of Schleiermacher may much of 



268 

the indeterminateness of modern German Theol- 
ogy be traced? 46. How does Philippi define 
Dogmatics? 47. Upon what does Hofmann lay 
stress? 48. Cite Luthardt's definition as given at 
the head of this section. 49. How is Dogmatics 
related to Apologetics? 50. To Ethics? 51. To 
Biblical Theology? 52. Why is it necessary for 
Dogmatic Theology to balance and correct Biblical 
Theology? 

II. CONTENTS OF DOGMATICS. 

§ 6. Name and Definition of Religion. 53. What 
do you have to say of the universality of religion? 
54. What is the derivation of the word? 55. Illus- 
trate from Augustine the true idea of religion. 56. 
Cite Luthardt's definition as given at the head of 
this section. 57. What does Beck say of Christian- 
ity as the true religion? 58. How does Philippi 
define Christianity? 59. What does Martensen 
say of the true religion? 

§ 7. The Origin and Essential Character of Religion. 
GO. In what does the origin of religion lie? Gl. In 
what sense is it natural to man? 62. What is the 
cause of religion in man? 63. Define religion. 

§ 8. The Actuajjty and Truth of Religion. 64. 
Show that religion is not a matter of mere knowl- 
edge. 65. Show that it is not a matter of mere- 
activity. 66. Of mere emotion. 67. In what 
sense is it a matter of the whole inner life? 68. 
What has been the ordinary definition of religion? 
69. What does Beck say of the essence of all actual 
religion? 70. Define religion in the objective sense, 
and illustrate. 71. Distinguish between a false and 
the true religion. 72. What according to Hollaz. 



269 

are the marks of a true religion? 73. Upon what 
marks does Quenstedt lay stress? 74. In what 
does the truth of religion reveal itself? 75. How 
do the perversions of religion arise? 76. In what 
fourfold way does Luthardt classify this perver- 
sion? 77. Explain more fully each of these perver- 
sions. 78. Distinguish between natural and posi- 
tive religion. 79. How does natural religion differ 
from the religion of nature? 80. Show that nat- 
ural religion is insufficient for salvation. 81. Define 
Positive religion. 

§ 9. The Essential Character and Truth of Chris- 
tianity. 82. How may Christianity be defined? 83. 
How does Philippi express the relation of Christian- 
ity to Heathenism and Judaism? 84. How does 
Martensen present this topic? 85. In what does 
the essential character of Christianity lie? 86. 
How does Martensen express this idea? 87. What 
comparison does he make between Incarnation and 
Inspiration? 88. In what way have the different 
Churches apprehended Christianity? 89. How can 
you prove the truth of the Christian religion? 90. 
What after all is the strongest evidence? 

§ 10. The Antithesis of Romanism and Protestant- 
ism. 91. Name some of the false explanations of 
the opposition between Protestantism and Roman- 
ism. 92. How has the difference been stated by 
various writers? 93. Name some of the special 
characteristics of Romanism. 94. Criticise the 
position of Romanism. 95. In what does the 
essential character of Protestantism lie? 96. Distin- 
guish between the formal and material principles 
of Protestantism. 97. What is the historical 
usage of the word ''Protestants"? 98. Martensen 



270 

draws the distinction betweeen Protestantism and 
Romanism with reference to four points. Give an 
outline of the discussion. 99. Give an outline of 
Krauth's remarks on Roman Catholicism. 

§ 11. Lutheran Protestantism. 100. Under what 
six headings is this topic discussed' 101. Name 
some of the more important distinctions between 
Lutheran and Reformed Protestantism. 102. In 
what sense does the Lutheran Church lay stress 
upon tradition? 103. What distinction between 
Lutheran and Reformed Protestantism does Her- 
zog draw. 104. Schweizer? 105. Dorner? 106. 
Baur? 107. Schnecken burger? 108. Stahl? 109. 
Martensen? 110. What does Luthardt say of 
these distinctions? 111. What distinction does 
Luthardt draw between the formal and material 
principle of Lutheranism? 112. Define the material 
principle of Lutheranism more fully. 113. The 
formal principle. 114. Show that Lutheran Pro- 
testantism is historical. 115. Prove that the 
Augsburg Confession is the oldest distinctive creed 
used in Western Christendom. 1 16. What is meant 
by the internal assurance of salvation? 1 17. By 
the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit? 118. 
What is the ground of faith? 119. What is the 
ground of assurance? 120. What according to 
Dorner is the true ground of Christian assurance? 
121. W T hat position does Philippi take? 122. 
Frank? 

III. THE METHOD OF DpGMATICS. 

§ 12. The Formation of the Dogmatic System. 123. 
What is meant by the material principle of Dog- 
matics? 124. Why does Luther lay so much stress 



271 

on the article of Justification by faith 9 125. Around 
what doctrines do the systems of Thomasius and 
Luthardt centre? 126. Oi Philippi? 127. What 
is the normative factor of Dogmatics? 128. Why 
is Holy Scripture so authoritative? 129. What is 
meant by the testimony of the Holy Spirit? 130^ 
Why do we in modern times lay so much stress on 
the evidence of Christian experience? 131. What 
is the strongest proof of the reality of Christianity? 

132. What is meant by the Canon of Scripture? 

133. Give a history of the rise of the Old Testa- 
ment Canon. 134. Show that the Canon of the 
Old Testament in its present form was known to 
Christ and his Apostles. 135. What reasons can 
you give for the canonicity and genuineness of the 
Book of Daniel? 136. Give a brief history of the 
rise of the New Testament Canon. 137. What do 
you know about the Muratorian Canon? 138. 
About the Peshito? 139. Name the k 'antilego- 
mena". 140. How does Hollaz establish the 
canonicity of individual books of Scripture? 141. 
What gifts must the interpreter of Scripture pos- 
sess? 142. Why must the dogmatician take into 
consideration the general development of Revela- 
tion? 143. What is meant by the perspicuity of 
Scripture? 144. What distinction does Luther 
make between an external and an internal clear- 
ness? 145. Why does our Church lay so much 
stress on the Analogy of Faith? 146. Why is our 
Church so strongly opposed to the theory of a 4 
multiple sense of Scripture? 147. What does Ger- 
hard say on this point? 148. State briefly the 
rules of interpretation as laid down by Gerhard. 

§ 13. The Church Doctrine and the Subjective Con- 
sciousness of Faith. 149. Under how many head- 



272 

ings is this subject discussed? 150. Why must 
Dogmatics have a churchly as well as a biblical 
character? 151 What does Martensen say on 
this point? 152. Why^ are Creeds necessary? 1 53. 
What is meant by the internal authority of the 
Confessions? 1 54. What by their external author- 
ity? 155. What does the Formula of Concord say 
about the value of the Confessions? 156. What 
does Dr. Krauth say about the setting aside or 
making of Creeds? 157. What does a true subscrip- 
tion to the Confessions imply? 158. What does 
Dr. Krauth say of the right of private judgment? 
159. What does Dr. Plitt say on this point? 160. 
Why is it necessary for a Lutheran to be faithful 
to the Confessions of his Church? 161. Why ought 
stress to be laid on fidelity to the Confessions, in 
theological training? 162. Give an account of the 
origin of the Apostles' Creed. 163. Of the Nicene 
Creed. 164. Of the Athanasian Creeed. 165. Of 
the preparation of the Augsburg Confession. 166. 
Give a brief history of its presentation at the Diet 
of Augsburg. 167. Of the various editions sent 
forth by Melanchthon. 168. How may thecontents 
of the Articles of the Augsburg Confession be clas- 
sified? 169. Give a brief history of the prepara- 
tion of the Apology. 170. What may be said,of 
the value of the Apology? 171. Give an account 
of the origin of the Smalcald Articles. 172. Char- 
acterize them. 173. Give an account of the pre- 
paration of the two Cathecisms. 174. Why was it 
necessary to prepare a new Confession? 175. Give 
an account of the preparation of the Torgau For- 
mula of 1576. 176. Of the final appearance of the 
Formula of Concord. 177. Of the Book of Concord. 
178. Distinguish between pure and mixed articles 



273 

of faith. 179. Distinguish between primary and 
secondary fundamental articles. 180. Between 
constituent, antecedent, and consequent articles. 
3 81. What is meant by a non-fundamental article? 
182. What does Philippi say about fundamental 
doctrines? 183. Give the substance of Frank's 
statement. 184. Give a brief description of the 
tendencies of the Lutheran Church in this country. 
185. Give a brief statement of the Principles of 
Faith adopted by the General Council. 186. What 
<3oes Dr. Krauth say of the standpoint of the Lu- 
theran Church? 187. What is meant by the 
consciousness of faith? 

§ 14. The Disposition of Dogmatics. 188. How 
does Luthardt arrange his system? 189. What 
three dogmaticians follow the order of the Apostles' 
Creed? 190. Give an outline of Philippi's System. 
191. What general plan is followed by Thomasius 
and Frank? 192. (Jive a general analysis of Theo- 
lo«:ia. 193. Of Anthropologia. 194. OfChristologia. 
195. Of Soteriologia. 196. Of Pneumatologia. 
197. Of Ecclesiologia. 198. Of Eschatologia. 

IV. THE HISTORY OF DOGMATICS. 

§ 15. The Dogmatics of the Ancient Church. 199. 
What is the general character of the Dogmatics of 
this period? 200. Name the Apostolical Fathers, 
and what can be said of theirtheology. 201. Name 
the Early Apologists and describe the character of 
their writings. 202. Name the chief teachers of 
the Alexandrian School. 203. Give a brief account, 
of Clement of Alexandria, his works, and his theol- 
ogy. 204. Name the two principal works of Origen. 
205. What were his chief errors? 206. Name the 



274 

leading: teachers of the New Alexandrian SehooL 
207. Give a brief account of life and writings of 
Athanasius. 208. Briefly compare Athanasius with 
Paul, Luther, and Calvin. 209. What was the 
character of the theology of Gregory Nazianzen? 
210. Of Basil the Great? 211. Of Gregory of 
Nyssa? 212. Of Didymus the Blind? 213. Of Cyril 
of Alexandria? 214. Of Cyril of Jerusalem? 215. 
Of John of Damascus? 216. What was the general 
character of the theology of the teachers of the 
Western Church? 217. Give a brief account of the 
writings and theology of Iremeus. 218. Of Tertul- 
lian. 219 Of Cyprian. 220. Of Hilary. 221. Of 
Ambrose. 222. Of Augustine. 223. What famous 
book did Vincent of Lerins write, and why is it re- 
ferred to? 224. Give a brief account of Isidore. 
225. Of Scotus Erigena. 226. Of Boethius. 

§ 16. The Dogmatics of the Middle Ages. 227. By 
what was the Dogmatics of the Middle Ages chiefly 
influenced? 228. Characterize Scholasticism. 229. 
Distinguish between Realism, Conceptualism, and 
Nominalism. 230. Name the great Realists of this 
•period. 231. Give a brief account of the writings of 
Anselm. 232. Of Abelard. 233. Of Bernard ofClair- 
vaux. 234. Name the three Victorines, and give a 
brief outline of their tendencies. 235. Describe the 
influence of Peter Lombard. 236. Of Alexauderof 
Hales. 237. Of Albertus Magnus. 238. Give an ac- 
count of the theology of Thomas Aquinas. 239. Of 
Bonaventura. 240. Of Duns Scotus. 241. Who was 
Roger Bacon? 242. Durand of St. Poursain'' 243. 
William Occam? 244. John Gerson? 245. Gabriel 
Biel? 246. Name the principal mystics and give a 
brief account of each. 247. What works of this 



275 

period had the greatest influence upon Luther? 
248. What influence did the Humanists exert? 

§ 1 7. The Dogmatics of the Century of the Reforma- 
tion. 249. What was the general character of the 
Dogmatics of the 16th century? 250. Characterize 
the difference between Lutheran and Reformed 
Dogmatics. 251. Why did Luther exert such a 
great influence upontheChurch of the Reformation? 
252. Give a brief sketch of the theology of Melanch- 
thon. 253. In what way did Melanchthon embar- 
rass the friends of the Reformation? 254. Give a 
brief account of the contents of the "Loci Com- 
munes," and name the more important editions. 
255. Who was Strigel? 256. Give an account of 
Selneccer. 257. Of Martin Chemnitz and his works. 
258. Who was Heerbrand? 259. Hafenreffer? 260. 
Give a brief account of Zwingli and his views. 261. 
Of Calvin and his theology. 262. Who was Bui- 
linger? 263. Ursinus? 264. Olevianus? 

§ 18. The Orthodox Dogmatics of the Seventeenth 
Century. 265. Under what topics is this section 
discussed? 266. - What was the general character 
of the Dogmatics of this period? 267. Give an ac- 
count of the three general tendencies which were at 
work in Lutheran Germany in the 17th century. 
268. Give an account of the Syncretistic contro- 
versy. 269. Of the Pietistic controvery. 270. What 
was the special character of the Lutheran Dog- 
matics of this period? 271. Name some of the great 
devotional writers of this period. 272. Give an ac- 
count of Calixtus and his tendencies. 273. Of Calo- 
vius. 274. Of Musjbus. 275. Of Hunnius and his 
works. 276. Of Hutter. 277. How does Hutter 
arrange his system in his Compend? 278. Give an 



276 

account of Gerhard and of his great work. 279. 
WhatisLuthardt'sestimateof Gerhard? 280. How 
does Baier arrange his system? 281. Give a brief 
account of Dannhaner. 282. Of Huelsemann. 283. 
OfKoenig. 284. Of Scherzer. 285 Of Quenstedt. 
286. Of Hollaz and of his system. 287. Where were 
the centres of Reformed Theology? 288. Name 
some of the German Reformed Dogmaticians of 
this period. 289. Name some of the Reformed Dog- 
maticians of Switzerland. 290. Of the Netherlands. 
291. What is meant by the Governmental theory 
of the Atonement? 292. Define Arminianism. ^93. 
What did the Supralapsarians teach? 294. Give 
an account of Descartes and his philosophical 
system. 295. What do we mean by the Federal 
Theology? 296. Name the principal representatives 
of the Federal Theology? 297. Name the four great 
theologians of the Church of England during the 
first half of the 17th century. 298. Name some of 
the great theologians of the Church of England 
who flourished during the latter half of the 17th 
century. 299. Name some of the groat Puritan 
theologians of this period. 300. Describe the move- 
ment known as Pietism. 301. Give a brief account 
ofSpener. 302. Of Freylinghausen. 303. Of Ram- 
bach. 304. Of Joachim Lange. 305. Of Bengek 
306. Of Oetinger. 307. OfBuddeus. 308. Of Walch. 
309. OfMosheim. 310. Of Ernesti. 311. Of Mi- 
chaelis. 312. Of Sender. 313. What was the ten- 
dency of Spinoza's philosophy? 314. Of that of 
Leibnitz? 315. Of that of Wolff? 316. Name some 
of the great theologians of the Church of England 
who flourished in the latter part of the 18th cen- 
tury? 317. What three denominations originated 
in the 18th century? 318. Name their principal 



277 

leaders. 319. Give a brief account of Jonathan 
Edwards. 320. What is meant by the "New Eng- 
land Theology ?" 

§ 20. The Dogmatics of Rationalism and Suprana- 
turalism. 321. Define Deism. 322. Name some of 
the leading Deists of England. 323. Name some 
of the principal leaders of infidelity in France. 3^4. 
lu Germany. 325. Give a brief sketch of the writ- 
ings of Kant. 326. Define Vulgar Rationalism. 
327. Who was the chief dogmatician of Rational- 
ism? 3.8. Who was its most successful opponent? 
329. Define Supranaturalism. 330. Name some of 
the principal Dogmaticians of Supranaturalism. 

331. Give a brief account of Beck. 

§ 21. The Dogmatics of the Most Recent Time. 

332. What is the tendency of the dogmatics of the 
most recent time? 333. What was the tendency oj 
the philosophy of Fichte? 334. OfSchelling? 335. Of 
Hegel? 336. Give a brief account of the theology of 
Daub. 337. Of Marheineke. 338. Of Strauss. 339. 
Of Biedermann. 340. What is meant by the theol- 
ogy of Emotion? 341. Give a brief account of the 
influence of Schleiermacher 342. Name some of his 
most prominent pupils. 343. Give a brief account 
of Hase. 344. Of Rothe. 345. Of Lange. 346. Of 
Dorner. 347. Of Ebrard. 348. OfRitschl. 349. 
What do you know of Hase's Hutterus redivivus? 
350. Give a brief account of Heinrich Schmid's 
great work. 351. Of Martensen and his Dogmatics. 
352. Of Thomasius and his work. 353. Of Philippi 
and his work. 354. Of Vilmar and his work. 355. 
Of Frank and his three great works. 356. Of Lu- 
thardt and his Compendium. 357. Review theana- 
lysis of Luthardt. 358. Name some of the prom- 



278 

inent Dogmaticians of Sweden. 359. Of Norway. 
360. Give a brief account of the two most prom- 
inent Lutheran Dogmaticians of this century in the 
United States. 361. Name two dogmaticians 
representing German Reformed Theology. 362. 
What type is represented by Van Oosterzee? 363. 
Name some of the principal writers on Dogmatics 
in the Church of England. 364. Name two works 
which represent the theology of the Congregation- 
alists. 365. Name three great theologians of the 
Presbyterian Church. 366. Name some theolo- 
gians of the Baptist Church. 367. Name the most 
prominent dogmaticians of the Methodist Church. 
368. Name some of the dogmaticians of the 
Roman Catholic Church. 




INDEX. 



Abelard, 19, 59, 169, 170 
Adolplms. 263 
Albw»H, 220 note 

Albertus Magnus, 173 
Alexander of Hales, 173 
Alexandria, school ot, 114—148; 

new school of 148-154 
Allegorical sense of Scripture, 93 
Alsted, 2()8 
Ambrose, 159 
Amnion, 238 
Amyraldism, 217, 218 
Amyraut, 218 
Analogy of faith, an inspired means 

of interpretation, 92 
Ancient Church, dogmatics of, 

143-165 
Andreae, 123, 219 
Anselm of Canterbury, 167, 168 
Antecedent articles of faith, 126 
Ante-Nicene Fathers, 144 note 
Anthropologia, analysis of topics 

discussed under, 139 
Antilegomena, 88 
Anton, Paul, 220 
Apocryphal Books, of 0. T., 86 
Apollos. 23 
Apologetics. 47 
Apologists. 144 
Apology of Augsburgs Confession, 

history of origin of, 117—119 
Apostles' Creed, history of origin 

of, 108, 109 
Apostolic Fathers, theology of, 144; 

best edition of, 144 note 
Aquinas, 174—176 
Archetypal theology, 19 
Aretius, 193 
Arianism, 149 
Aristotle, 28, 169 
Articles of faith, pure and mixed, 

125; fundamental and non-funda- 
mental, 125-131; of General 

Council, 132, 133 
Assurance of salvation, 77-79 



Athanasian Creed, history of origin 
of, 111, 112 

Athanasius, theology of, 149, 150 

Atheism, 50 

Atheuagoras, 144 note 

Atonement, 140, 141, 209, 210 

Auberleu, 224 

Augsburg, Diet of, 113 

Augsburg Confession, history of 
origin of, • 12-117; composition 
of, 113-115; contents of.i 16, L17 

Augustine, 27. 39, 159-162 

Authority of Confessions, 97-100 

Baader, 225, 243 

Bacon. Roger, 177, 178 

Bahrdt, 233 

Baier, definition of religion, 43; on 

natural theology 51; theology 

of, 204, 262 
Baltzer, 158 

Baptismal Confessions, 109 
Baptists, recent dogmaticians of, 

26 L, 264 
Basil, the Great, 150, 151 
Baumgarten-Crusius, 34 
Baumgarten. S. J., 229 
Baur, on difference between Lu- 
theran and Reformed, 68 
Baxter, 216 
Beard, 264 
Be i ven, 155 
Beck, on definition of religion 39, 

44; sketch of, 240 
Bengel, 223 
Benson. 1 57 
Bergen Formula, 124 
Bernard of Clairvaux, 170, 171 
Beveridge, 21 5 
Bible, normative authority of, 66, 

72, 73, 81—83 
Biblical Theology, how related to 

dogmatics 37, 38 
Biedermann, 245 
Biel, Gabriel, 180 



280 



Bindemann, on Augustine, 1 59,160 
Bjorling, dogmatics of, 256, 262 
Blunt, 259 
Boethius, 165 
Bolingbroke, deism of, 232 
Bonaventura, 176 
Boniface VIII, 57 
Book of Concord, 70, 108, 124 
Boston, Thomas, 216 
Breithaupt, 220, 221 
Bretschueider, 184, 238 
Bring, dogmatics of, 256,257,262 
Browne, 259, 263 
Bruce, 264 

Buddeus, on religion, 43; on John 
Gerhard 202; sketch of, 225,226 
Buel, 259, 263 
Bull, George, 214, 263 
Bullinger, 192 
Buugener, 191 
Bunyan, 216 
Burk, 223 
Burmaun, 212 
Burnet, Gilbert, 215 

Cairns, 231 

Calixtus and his syncretism, 195, 
197, 203 

Calovius, on theuseof Philosophy, 
19; on interpretation of Script- 
ure, 93; theology of, 195, 198, 
205, 206 

Calvin, 191, 192,263 

Calvinism, 191, 192 

Cameron, John, 2l8 

Canon, of the 0. T., 83-87; of the 
N. T. 87-90 

Carpzov, 220 note 

€atechisms of Luther, history of 
origin of, 121, 122 

Catholicism, Roman, 55-65 

Charnock, 215 

Charteris, 87 

Chemnitz, on the Canon, 89, 90; 
his relation to the Formula of 
Concord, 123, 124; theology of, 
188, 189 

Chillmgworth, 217 

Christ, doctrine of person of, anal- 
ysis of topics dicussedunder,139, 
140; work of, analysis of topics, 
14-0,141 

Christlieb, 163; on faith 27 

Christianity, essence of 52, 53; re- 



lation to heathenism and Juda- 
ism, 52; historical forms of, 54; 
thetruereligion, 54; Apostolic,62 

Christologia, analysis of topics dis- 
cussed under, 1 39, '40 

Church doctrine, 95-135; consists 
of articles of faith, 125-135; 
teacher's relation to, 102-106 

Church, doctrine of the, in Roman 
Church, 56, 57; in Lutheran- 
Church, 132, 133 ; analyzed 142 

Church of England, dogmatics of,. 
213-217. 230. 259 

Chy trams, 123, 124 

Cicero, on universality of religion,. 
38 

Claims of theology, 23-29 

Clarke, Samuel, 217, 230 

Clement of Alexandria 144 — 146 

Cocceius, 212 

Collins, deism of, 232 

Communion in one kind, 59 

Concord, See Book of Concord 

Confessional dogmatics, of recent 
times, 253—261 

Confessionalism, Pitt on, 101 — 105- 

Confessions of theChurch,96— 128; 
necessity of, 96, 97; authority of, 
97-100; subscription to. 100-105; 
fidelity to, 106-108; relation of 
the pastor to, 102-105; sufficien- 
cy of, 105 ; history of, 108-124 ; 
Lutheran Church in U. S. faithful 
to. 132, 133 

Congregationalism, dogmatics of 
recent, 260, 264 

Consciousness of faith, 135 

Consequent Articles of faith, 127 

Constituent Articles of faith, 126 

Cotton. John, 216 

Council, General, of Evang. Luth. 
Chnrch, 131-1^4; principles o£ 
faith of, 132. 133 

Crusius, C. A., 224 

Cudworth, Ralph, 217 

Cutts, 159 

Cyprian, 157, 158 

Cyril of Alexandria, 153 

Cyril of Jerusalem, 153 

D'Alembert, 233 
Dabuey. 264 
Dagg, 261, 264 
Dale, 264 



281 



Daniel, canonicity of, 86, 87 

Dannhauer, 204 

Daub, 243, 244 

Deism. 48. 231, 232 

Delitzach, 171, 224 

Descartes, 211, 228 

Deutsche Theologia, 181 

Deutschmarm. opposes Spener,221 

De Wette, 246 

Diderot, 233 

Didymus, the Blind, 152, 153 

Doederlein, 235 

Dogma, definition of, 33 

Dogmatics, relation to Ethics, 31, 
37; definition of, 32-37; forma- 
tion of a system of, 80-95: mat- 
erial principle of. 80, 81; formal 
principle of, 81-83; churchly 
character of, 95, 96; analysis of 
a system of, 135-143: history of, 
143-262; literature of. 262-265 

Dorner. on definition of dogmatics, 
35; on Reformed Protestantism, 
68; on material principle of 
Lutheranism.69,70: on Christian 
experience, 79; on Augustine, 
159; as a theologian, 250, 251 

Driver, 84 

Duncker, 155 

Duns Scotus, 176, 177 

Durand, 178 

Dyer, 191 

Eales, 170 
Ebrard, 251, 263 
Ecclesiologia, analyzed, 142, 143 
Eckhart, Meister, 180 
Edwards, .Jonathan, 231 
Ektypal theology, 19 
Emmons, Nathanael, 259 
Emotional in religion, 43 
Emotion, theology of, 245-248 
Episcopalians. 213, 230, 259 
Episcopins. 209 
Ernesti, 226, 227 
Eschatologia, analyzed, 143 
Ethics, relation to Dogmatics 31, 

32 
Evidences of Christianity, 47 
Examination question, 266-278 
Exegetical theology, analysis of, 30 
Experience, 21, 22 

Fairbairn, 260, 264, 



Fairchild, 264 

Faith, and knowledge, 27, 60; jus- 
tification by, 70-72; foundation 
of, 125. 126; articles of, 125-131; 
consciousness of, 135 

Farrar, Adam, 231 

Federal theology, 212 

Fichte, 242 

Fidelity to the Confessions,106-108 

Field, Richard, 214 

Field, 265 

Filioque, 110, 111 

Finney, Charles G., 260, 264 

Fisher, 264 

Flacius, 187 

Flaft, 239 

Fletcher, 231 

Forbes, 259. 263 

Formal Principle, of Protestant- 
ism, 60; of Lutheranism, 72-74; 
of Reformed Protestantism, 67— 
79; of Dogmatics, 81-K3 

Formula of Concord, history of 
origin of, 122-124 

Francke, A. H , 220, 222 

Frank, 55; on definition of dog- 
matics, 36;onchrislian assurance, 
79; on fundamental doctrines, 
129-131 ; dogmatics of, 255, 262 

Freedom, abuses of, 63 

Freylinghausen. 221 

Fries. 245 

Fundamental articles of faith,125- 
131; of General Council, 131-133 

Gabriel Bid, 180 

Gass, on Gregory Nazianzen, 150 

Gebhardt, 144 

General Council of Evang. Luth. 
Church 131-133 

General Svnod of Evang. Luth. 
Church. 132 

Gennadius of Marseilles, 163 

Gerhard, John, on faith, 27; on the 
Canon 89; on interpretation of 
Scripture, 92-95; theology of, 
200, 201; analysis of loci of, 201 

Gerhart, introduction of, 18; dog- 
matics of, 258, 263 

German Reformed theology, 208, 
258, 263 

Gerson, John, 179 

Gill, 230 

Gillett, 182 



282 



God, doctrine of, analysis of sub- 
jects, 137-139 

Goebel, on distinction between Lu- 
theran and Reformed, 66 

Gold horn, 157 

Gomarus, 210 

Gonlburn, 259, 263 

Governmental theory of the Atone- 
ment, 209, 210 

Gran felt. 257 

-Gregory Nazianzen, 18, 150 

Gregory of Nyssa,151, 152 

Grob, 190 

Grotius, Hugo, 209, 210 

Gruner, 235 

Hafenreffer, 189 

Hahn, August, 239 

Hahn, Michael, 225 

Hall, 263 

Hard wick, 182 

Harnack. 144, 185 

Harris, 264 

H artel, 157 

Harvey, 155 

Hasp, Carl, opponent of vulgar 
rationalism, 238; sketch of, 248; 
Hutterus redivivus of, 253, 262 

Hasse, 167 

Hauck, 156 

Heathenism and Christianity con- 
trasted, 52 

Heerbrand, 189 

Hefele, 144 

Hegel, 243 

Heidegger, 218 

Heinrich Snso, 181 

Helvetins, 233 

Henke, 237 

Heppe, on difference between Lu- 
theran and Reformed, 66; dog- 
matics of 258, 263 

Herbert of Cherbury, on natural 
religion. 50; philosophy of, 232 

Heresies of Rome, 58 

Hermann, 252 

Herrlinger, 184 

Herzog, on difference between Lu- 
theran and Reformed, 67 

Hilary of Poitiers, 158 

Historical theology, analvsis of 
30, 31 

Hodge, Charles, introduction of 18; 
Systematic theology of, 260, 264 



Hofmanu, on definition of dogmat- 
ics. 36 

Hollaz, on definition of theology, 
20; aim of theology, 22; on philos- 
ophy, 28; definition of religion, 
43; on marks of true religion, 45, 
46; on the Canon, 89; theology 
of 206; analysis of dogmatics of, 
207 

Holy Spirit, work of, 141 

Hooker, Richard, 214. 263 

Hopkins, Samuel, 259 

Horsley, 230 

Hot-tinger, 190 

Hovey, 261, 264 

Howe, John, 216 

Hnber, 199 

Huelsemanu. 205 

Hugo of Sb. Victor, 171, 172 

Humanists, the, 183 

Hume, deism of, 232 

Hunnins, Aegidins, 199 

Hunnius, Nicolaus, 203 

Hurst, 231 

Hurter, 262 

Huss, John, 182 

Hutter, Leonard, 199, 200 

Hyperius, 193 

Idealism, absolute, 48 

Illumination, period of, 231-235 

Incarnation, miracle of, 52, 54 

Infallibility, in Roman Church, 58, 
59; of the Church of God, 76, 77 

Inspiration, 53; in the Roman 
Church, 58, 62; doctrine of. 91 

Interpretation, of Seripfure,90-95; 
literal, 93: according to analogy 
of faith, 92; not a multiple sense, 
92, 93; principles of, 94 * 

Iowa Synod. 132 note 

Irenaeus, 145, 155 

Isidore of Seville, 163 

Jackson, Thomas. 214 
Jacobi, on faith, 27: sketch of 245 
Jacobs, on the Apology, 119; dog- 
matics of, 262 
Jacobson, 144 
Jansenists, 65 
Jelf, 263 

John of Damascus. 153, 154 
Johnson. Gisle, 257 
Jones of Nayland, 230 



Judaism and Christianity con- 
trasted, 52 

Justin Martyr, 14-4 nqte 

Justification by faith, the material 
principle of Lutheranism, 70-74; 
of Dogmatics, SO, 81 

Kaftan, 252 

Kahnis, on definition of theology, 
18: of dogmatics. 3(5; on re- 
ligion, 44; order of system of, 
136; on John Gerhard, 2<)2; dog- 
matics of, 255 

Kant, 235. 236, 242 

Kaulicli. 172 

Kaye, 156 

Keckermann, 208 

Kirkpatrick, 84 

Knapp, 231) 

Knowledge, 43; and faith, 27 

Knox, 213 

KoHlner, on the Smalcald Articles, 
121 

Koenig, 205 

Koestlin, 184, 185 

Krauth, on relation of philosophy 
and theology, 27; on marks ot 
true religion, 45, 46; on mystic- 
ism, 49; on Lutheran Protestant- 
ism, 51), 60; on Catholicism, 64-, 
65; on true value of tradition, 
67; on the necessity of Confes- 
sions. 96; on themakingof Creeds, 
99, 100; on the right of private 
judgment, 101 ; on fidelity to the 
Confessions. 106; on Lutheran- 
ism, 1(16; on theological training, 
107; on the Augsburg Confession, 
114, 115, 116; on Smalcald Ar- 
ticles. 120; on Formula of Con- 
cord, 124-; on the importance of 
Creedn, 100 ; on the principles of 
faith of General Council, 132-134; 
on ( 'hemnitz,188; as a theologian, 
257: dogmatics of. 262 

Krogh-Tonning, 257, 262 

Krotel, 184 

Kuebel, 251 

Kurtz, on Tertullian, 156 

Landerer, 175 
Lange Joachim, 222 
Lange, .1. P., 250, 263 
Last Things,doctriue of, analyzed, 
143 



283 

Laud, William, 264 

Lechler. 181, 231 

Ledderho^e, 184 

Leibnitz, 228 

Leigh ton, 215 

Lessing, 245 « 

Levdecker. 212 

Liddon, 259. 263 

Liebner, 171, 250 

Light-foot, 144 

Limborch, 210 

Limitations of theology, 29 

Literature of dogmatics 262-265 

Lipsius, 252 

Litton, 259, 263 - 

Loescher, Val. Ernst, 222 

Lombard, Peter, 172, 173 

Luke, 23 

Luthardt, introduction of, 18; de- 
finition of theologv, 18; relation 
of philosophy to theology. 29; 
definition of dogmatics, 32; on 
essential character of religion, 
41; definition of Chiistianity, 52; 
fourfold perversion of religion, 
47-49; on Catholicism. 56, 57; 
on difference between R<- formed 
and Lutheran, 66, 69; on material 
principle of Lul heranisra, 70; of 
Dogmatics, 81; general divisions 
of system of dogmatics, 135, 136; 
analysis ot system of, 137-143; 
on Gerhard, 201; as a theologian, 
256; works of, 262, 263 

Luther, on theological study, 20- 
22; on assurannnofSalvation, 78; 
on theCanon, 88,89; on Aristotle, 
28; on perspicuity ot Scripture, 
91: his relation to the Augsburg 
Confession, 113-115; Catechisms 
ot. 121, 122; works, life, theology, 
184 note 

Lutheran Church in U.S., Statistics 
and tendencies, 132, 133 

Lutheran Dogmatician3, recent* 
253-257 

Lutheran Protestantism, differs 
from Reformed, 66-69: best able 
to cope with Romanism, 106: ma- 
terial principle of, 69-72; formal 
principle of, 72-74; historical 
character, 74-77 

Lutheran theology, 195, 196 



284 



Lutherans, the true protestants, 
61, 106 

M accovius, 210 

Man, doctrine of, analysis of topics 
dicussed under, 139 

Marburg, Articles of, 112 

Maresius, 211 

Marheineke,order of system of,136; 
sketch of, 244 

Martensen, introduction of, 18; de- 
finition of dogma, 33; of dog- 
matics, 36; on religion, 40; on 
Christianity versus heathenism, 
52; on the essence of Christianity, 
53; on Catholicism, 56, 57; on 
difference between Catholicism 
and Lutheranism,61- 63; between 
Reformed and Lutheran Protest- 
antism, 68, 69; on a dogmatic 
system, 96; order oi system of, 
136; as a dogmatician, 254; dog- 
matics of, 263 

Material principle, of Protestant- 
ism 59-64; of Lutheranism, 70— 
72; of Reformed Protestantism, 
67-69; of Dogmatics, 80, 81 

Materialism, 48, 50 

Mather, Cotton, 217 

Mediation, theology of, 248-252 

Meditation, 21 

Meister Eckhart, 180 

Melanchthon, on philosophy, 28; 
his relation to the A. C, 113, 114; 
edition of Variata, 115: prepares 
the Apology, 118; on thepriniacy 
of the Pope, 120, 121; Corpus 
doctrinae of, 122; vacillations of, 
122; dogmatics oi 184-187; loci 
of, 17, 122, 185-187 

Melanchthonian school of dog- 
matics, 187-189 

Mendelssohn, 234 

Methodists, recent dogmaticians 
of 261, 265 

Michaelis, J. D., 227 

Middle Ages, dogmatics of, 165-184 

Miley. 265 

Miracles, 53; analysis of discussion, 
138 

Mixed articles of faith, 125 

Moehler, on Romanism and Prot- 
estantism, 56, 58 

Montanism, 145 



Morison, 170 

Morus, 235 

Mosheim. 226 

Moule, 259, 263 

Multiple sense, theory of, 92, 93 

Musaeus, 197, 199, 203 

Musculus, 193 

Mysticism, 49, 180, 181 

Natural relisrion, 50 

Natural theology, 19, 51 

Neander, 156,170; on Aquinas,175,. 
176 

New England Theology. 231, 260 

New Haven Theology, 260 

New Testament Canon, 87-99 

Nicene ' reed, history of origin of,. 
110,111 

Nitzsch, on difference between Lu- 
theran and Reformed, 66; as a 
theologian, 247 

Nitzsch, F., 165 

Noack, 164 

Nominalism, 28, 167 

Non-fundamental articles of faith,. 
127 

Norris, 259, 263 

Occam, 178 

Oehler, 151 note, 155 note 

Oetin ger, 224 

OhioSvnod, 132 note 

Old Testament Canon, 84-87 

Olevianus, 193 

Oosterzee, introduction of, 18 note; 

dogmatics of, 258,259 
Oriental Church, dogmatics of, 

144_154 

Origen, theologv of, 146-148 
Owen, John, 216 

Pajon, 218 

PantaBnus, 145 

Pantheism, 47, 48 

Pa pin, 218 

Pastors are teachers. 24 

Paul, 23 

Pearson, 215, 264 

Pendleton. 261, 264 

Percival, 264 

Perrone. 51, 261 

Personality of God, analysis of dis- 
cussion, 137 

Person of Christ, analysis of doc- 
trine, 139, 140 



Perspicuity of Scripture, 91, 95 

Peter D'Ailly, 179 

Peter Lombard, 172, 173 

Peter Martyr Verrnilius, 192 

Pfaff, 22G 

Philippi, introduction, 18; on faith, 
27; on definition ot dogmatics, 
35; on religion, 39, 51; on Chris- 
tiatiity,52;on Christian assurance 
80; on the Apology, 119; on fun- 
damental doctrines, 127-129; 
division of system of, 136; dog- 
matics of, 255, 263 

Philippists, 122 

Philosophy, relation to theology, 
27-29; of the Middle Ages, 165- 
167; of Descartes, Leibnitz, Wolff, 
of Deism, 231, 232; Kant, 235; of 
recent times, 242-245 

Pict^t, 209 

Pietism. 195. 196; dogmatics of, 
219-223; characterized, 241 

Plato, 28 

Plitt, on Confessionalism, 101—105 

Pneumatologia, analyzed, 141,142 

Polanus, 209 

Polytheism, 47, 48 

Poole, 157 

Pope, William B., 261, 265 

Positive religion, 51 

Practical theology, analysis of, 31 

Prayer. 21 

Pre- Reformatory theology, 180— 
183 

Presbvterianism, recent dogmatics 
of 260, 264 

Priestley, 230 

Primacy ot the Pope, 120, 121 

Prolegomena, object of, 17, 18 

Protestant, origin of name. 61 

Protestantism, contrasted with 
Romanism, 55-56; essential char- 
acter ot, 59-65; material prin- 
ciple of, 60; Lutheran, 66 — 77; 
Rnformpd, 66-69 

Providence, analysis of discussion, 
138 

Pure articles of faith, 125 

Pusey, 259, 264 

Quenstedt, introduction of, 17; on 
the use of philosophy, 29; on de- 
finition of dogmatics, 34; on 
marks of true religion, 47; on in- 



285 

terpretation of Scripture, 92; 
theology ot, 206 

Rambach, 222 

Randolph, 264 

Rationalism, dogmatics of, 231— 
238, 251, 252; histories of, 231 
note; vulgar, 238-248 

Raymond, Miner, 261, 265 

Realism, 28, 167 

Reformation, dogmatics of century 
ot, 184-194 

Reformed Dogmatics, recent, 258, 
263 

Reformed Protestantism, distinct 
from the Lutheran, 66-69 

Reimarus, 234 

Reinbeek, 229 

Reinhard, 238 

Religion, definition of, 38, 39; de- 
rivation of word, 38; isuniversal, 
38; origin of, 40; essence of, 41, 
42; truth ot, 42-47; subjective, 
42; objective, 45; divisions of, 
45; marks of true, i5-47; four- 
fold perversion ot, 47-49; natural, 
50; revealed, 51; Christianity is the 
true, 54; origin of, 40, 41 

Rettberg, 157, 179 

Revealed theology, 19, 20 

Revelation, 51; analysis of discus- 
sion, 137 

Richard of St. Victor, 172 

Richardson, 144 note 

Ridgelev, 264 

Rieger, 225 

Riggenbach, 222 

Ritschl, 251 

Robertson, on Bernard of Clair- 
vaux, 171 

Roehr, 237 

Roger Bacon, 177 

Roman Catholic Church, recent 
dogmaticians of, 261, 262 

Romanism, contrasted with Prot- 
estantism, 55-65; essential char- 
acter of, 56, 57; criticised, 57-59 

Roos, 225 

Roscellinus, 168 

Rothe, 249 

Rousseau, 232 

Rules of Faith, 109 

Ruysbroeck, 181 

Ryle, 84 



286 



Sadler, 259. 264 

Salvation, internal assurance of, 
77-79 

Sartorius, 254 

Sarpi, 58 

Sehafif, on Melanchthon, 120, 121; 
on Clement ofAlexandria,146; on 
Origen. 148; on Athanasius, 149; 
on Basil the Great, 151; on Gre- 
gory of Nyssa, 151: on Ireiiaeus, 
155; on Tertnllian, 156; on Cypri- 
an, 157; on Augustine, 159; on 
Zwingli, 191 

Schelling, 242, 243 

ScheukeJ, 249 

Scherzer, 205 

Schleiermacher, on faith and emo- 
tion, 27; definition of dogmatics, 
34. 35; of religion, 44; on Prot- 
estantism and Romanism, 55: as 
a theologian, 246. 247 

Schmid, H., introduction of, 17; 
work of, 197, 219, 253, 263 

Schmid, Sebastian, 219 note 

Schmucker, S. S., 239 

Schneckenburger, on difference be- 
tween Reformed and Lut-heran,68 

Schoeberlein, 251 

Scholasticism,character of,165-167; 
beginnings of. 167-172; bloom of, 
172-178; decline of, 178-180 

Schultz, 252 

Schwa bach, Articles of, 112 

Schvveizer, on difference between 
Lutheran and Reformed, 67, 68; 
sketch of 249, 263 

Science of theology, 23-29 

Scotus Erigena, 163, 164 

Scripture, normative authority of, 
60, 72-74, 81-83; interpretation 
ot, 90-95 

Seeker, 230 

Seiler. 236 

Seiss, 184 

Selnecker, 17, 123, 124; theology of, 
188 

Semi sch, on Hilary, 158 

Semler, 227 

Shedd, introduction of, 18; theology 
isascience,26: dogmatic theology 
corrects biblical theologv. 37; 
dogmatic theology of, 260,' 264 

Sighart, 173 

Sigwart, 190 



Smalcald Articles, history of origin 
of, 119-121 

Smith, H. B., introduction of, 18; 
dogmatics of, 261, 264 

Soteriologia,analysis of topics dis- 
cussed under, 140, 141 

South, Robert, 215 

Spener, 195, 219-221 

Spinoza, 228 

Spirit, Holy, testimony of, 78, 79: 
doctrine of the work o(, analyzed, 
141 

Spurgeon, 25 

Stack house, 230 

Stahl,on Reformed Protestantism, 
68 

Staudlin, 237 

Stahelin, 191 

Stearns, 55, 80, 83, 260, 264 

Steudel, 240 

StillingnVet, 215 

Storr, 239 

Storrs, 170 

Strauss, D. F., 244 

Strigel, Victorin, 187, 188 

Strong, introduction of, 18: on 
theology as a science, 26: Sys- 
tematic theology of, 261, 264 

Study, means of theological, 20-22 

Subscription to the Confessions, 
100. 101 

Sueskiud, 240 

Supranaturalism, dogmatics of, 
238-241 

Suso, 181 

Sweden borg, 231 

Symbols, see Confessions 

Syncretism, 195 

Synergism, 185 

Synod, General, ot Evang. *Luth. 
Church, 132 

Synod, United. South, 132 

Synodical Conference, 132 

Systematic theology, analysis of, 
31; importance ot, 37 

Systems of theology, Philippi, 136; 
"Luthardt, 135-143; Melanchthon, 
lHQnote; flutter's Compend, 199 
note; Gerhard, 201 note; Baier, 204 
note; Hollaz, 207 note 

Tauler, 180 
Tavlor, Jeremy, 214 
Taylor Nathaniel VV., 260 



287 



Teller, 235 

Tertuilian, 155, 156 

Testimony of Holy Spirit, 78,79,82 

Theologia Germanica, 181 
Theologia or doctrine of God,anal- 

ysis of. 137-139 
Theologian, a true, 20 

Theology, definition of, 18-20; di- 
visions of, 19, 30, 31; revealed, 19, 
20, 45; means of study of. 20, 21; 
requisites to the study of, 22; aim 
of, 22; claims of, 23-29; limita- 
tions of, 29; organism of, 30-32; 
a science, 23; relation to philos- 
ophy, 27-29; natural, 19, 50, 51; 
System of. 137-143 

Thilo, 150. 151 note 

Tholnck, on John Gerhard, 202 

Thomas Aquinas, 174-176 

Thomasius, dogmatics of, 254, 263 

Tieftrunk, 237 

Tillotson. 217 

Tindal, deism of, 232 

Toellner, 229 

Tomline, 230, 264 

Toplady, 230 

Torgau Articles, 113 

Tradition, unreliableness of, 59; 
true value of, 67, 69, 76 

Trent, council of, 58, 59, 61, 65, 76, 
119 

Twensten, on dogmatics, 35: on 
Protestantism and Romanism, 
56; as a theologian. 248 

Typical sense of Scripture, 93 

Tzschirner, 238 

XJeberweg. 163; on Clemens of Alex- 
andria, 146; on Gregory of Nyssa, 
151; on Augustine, 159 

Ullmann,150, 180 

Ultramontanism, 65 

Unionism, 194 note # 

United Synod, South, 132 

Ursinus, 193 

Van Oosterzee, introduction of, 18; 
dogmatics of, 258, 263 

Van Til, 213 

Variata, Augusta na, 115 

Vaughan, 174. 180, 181 

Victoiiues, the. 171, 172 

Vilmar, introduction of, 18; dog- 
matics of, 255, 263 



Vincent of Lerins, 163 

Voerius, 211 

Voigt. 251 

Voltaire. 232 

Vulgar Rationalism, 236-238 

Wachter, 223 

Wageumann, on Occam, 178 

Walch, J. G., 226 

Walker, 268 

Walter of St. Victor, 172 

Walther, on theology of seven- 
teenth centry, 196, 197; on John 
Gerhard, 202; on Baier, 204; as a 
theologian, 258 

Warburton,230 

Ward law, 259. 264 

Waterland, 215, 230 

Watson, John, 235 

Watson, Richard, 261, 265 

Wegscheider. 237 

Weudelin, 209 

Werner, 174 

Wesel, 183 

Wesley. 231 

Wessel, 182 

Westcott, 84, 259, 264 

Western Church, dogmatics of. 154- 
165 

Wette, de, 246 

Whitefield, 231 

Wiclif, 181, 182 

Wilberforce, 259, 264 

William of Champeaux, 169 

William of Occam, 178, 179 

Wiseman. 262 

Witsius, 212 

Wolfenbuettel fragments, 234 

Wolff, 229 

Wolfgang Musculus, 193 

Wolleb, 209 

Woods, Leonard, 260 

Work of Christ, analysis of doc- 
trine of, 140, 141 

Work of Holy Spirit, doctrine of, 
141 

Wuertemberg School, 223, 224, 240 

Zahn, 144 
Zanchi, 194 
Zeller, 190 
Zinzendorf, 231 
Zwingli, 190, 191 



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